Digital Radio UK Rayner Hob Nobs With The Minister For Culture

Yesterday, the regular Monday service of This Week column and the Morel Monday series (which has some corkers coming, with a real cutie for Christmas, by the way) was interrupted not by a mere birthday but by the Go Digital conference at the BBC Radio Theatre at New Broadcasting House. We had an early press briefing in a council chamber with wooden panelled walls and then downstairs to the theatre, where a keynote speech and announcements were then made to the ‘industry’ by Minister Ed Vaizey as well as commercial and BBC radio broadcasters about digital radio’s future. A number of important supportive announcements were also made by industry speakers.
The Minister announced:
– Acknowledgement of progress, but no date for a switchover of national and large local stations.
– A restatement of criteria to be met ahead of any switchover decision (50% listening, local commercial coverage and national DAB reaching FM equivalence).
– Government and broadcaster investment to expand local DAB coverage to commercial FM equivalence (funded by Government, BBC and commercial operators) increasing population coverage from around 70% to around 90%. This is an investment of £21 million and will give 4 million more households access to local stations on DAB.
– Ofcom to offer the licence to build and run a new national commercial multiplex (Digital 2).
– Ofcom to undertake a review of music formats for commercial radio to see if these can be relaxed.
– Government to provide funding to support the development of low power DAB.
– Digital ‘˜tick’ mark to be launched for radio products and installers. Information will be sent to the supply chain before the launch next year.
– Mailings to be sent to all vehicle owners via the DVLA.
Industry announcements were:

– Halfords announced today that their radio range would be 100% digital in 2015 and that digital radio trained installers would be available in their 460 stores, within 20 minutes’ travel for 90% of the population.
– Kwik Fit said they would offer digital radio installation initially through its network of Kwik Fit Plus centres.
– Partnership between Frontier Silicon and Imagination delivers Chorus 4 fourth generation highly integrated digital radio chip. The single chip offers support for all global digital radio standards and legacy analogue radio formats and offers lower cost and greater energy efficiency. This new chip will see digital radio be implemented in a broader range of devices than ever before including portable radios for under £20, devices with Bluetooth connectivity and will make it possible for digital radio to be integrated into mobile devices.
– Partnership between STMicroelectronics and Imagination to deliver a next generation highly integrated multi-standard programmable radio solution covering all radio formats for car radios. With STMicroelectronics as a leading provider for electronics for automotive this partnership is set to positively move penetration of digital radio in automotive forward.
– Pure will support the new ‘˜digital tick’ specification in all its products from 2014.
– Ford of Britain announced that the UK’s top-selling van, the Transit, will have digital radio and that the All-New Transit Courier and All-New Transit Connect will feature DAB as standard. The All-New Transit and Transit Custom will have DAB available as an option priced at £75+VAT.
– Radioplayer, the online listening platform backed by the BBC and commercial radio, has been chosen as Ford’s launch partner for their new SYNC AppLink technology, bringing online radio into Ford cars.
– Argos now offers a £24.99 Bush digital radio adapter, which is capable of converting domestic analogue radios to receive DAB.
The photo at the top, shows Steve Holebrook from Arqiva, (who build and run radio towers – ONE taller than the damn SHARD!) Will Harding from Global Radio, Helen Boaden from BBC, Paul Keenan from Bauer Media and Minister Ed Vaizey.