<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<STYLE>.hmmessage P {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
BODY.hmmessage {
FONT-FAMILY: Calibri; FONT-SIZE: 12pt
}
</STYLE>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.23588"></HEAD>
<BODY class=hmmessage bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Is that really why the trial was originated? Surely it was
always intended to be for small commercial stations as much as community radio
licensees. Introducing the consultation Ofcom said it was intended to
address the fact that there are "around 150 small scale radio and 200 or
more community radio stations and for them the existing multiplex structure just
doesn’t work." The consultation also said explicitly that the preferred mix of
stations on the trial multiplexes would be commercial plus
community.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>We are a small scale commercial station (in fact the
smallest), and could very easily have set up a trial as we own and control two
suitable transmission sites with readily available audio feeds at both, and a
high level in-house IT expertise, but the trial ran the risk of
leaving participants high and dry at the end of the trial with significant sunk
expense and time, not to mention creating a listener expectation that they could
not continue to meet at the end of the trial. </FONT><FONT
size=2>F</FONT><FONT size=2>or us of course the most sensible partner on
the multiplexes would have been the BBC (since they don't have space on their
own multiplexes for the Scottish national services).</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>But I'm with certainly in hoping that the trial doesn't become
dominated by commercial interests or ends up just being used by large stations
to negotiate lower costs with their existing over-priced providers. I don't
think Ofcom shoudl have offered a confidentiality option on the applications -
that seems wholly inappropriate for a publicly funded trial of this
nature.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Alex</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=transplanfm@hotmail.com href="mailto:transplanfm@hotmail.com">Ian
Hickling</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=martin@martinsteers.co.uk
href="mailto:martin@martinsteers.co.uk">Martin Steers</A> ; <A
title=alan.coote@5digital.co.uk href="mailto:alan.coote@5digital.co.uk">Alan
Coote</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A
title=cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk
href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, April 16, 2015 1:08
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [cma-l] Ofcom publishes
applications for small scale DAB trials</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>As the trial was originated to allow access to DAB for Community
Radio Licensees, I for one will be highly disappointed and probably quite
verbal if this is seen to be taken over by the commercial interests.<BR>Having
been directly involved with 14 of the applicants and provided the technical
input to their submissions, I have seen in the ones we have supported alone
enough variety to cover the 10 available trial formats.
<DIV>But unreserved compliments to Martin James and Rashid Mustapha and their
colleagues at Ofcom both for persevering with the initiative - and clearly
generating an excellent response.</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>