27th September 2006

GCap Media is planning to launch a new national digital jazz station, which will be 'sistered' with Classic FM, and will be transmitted on the national commercial Digital One DAB multiplex, and presumably on digital satellite and online as well.

However, as new mobile TV services are launching on the Digital One multiplex, there is a distinct possibility that this new jazz station, which is planned to launch by the end of the year, will be transmitted in mono. Joy! more

27th September 2006

All of the main French radio broadcasters have formed a new Digital Radio Group, which has issued a press release saying that they plan to launch digital radio in France in 2007, and that they plan to employ the new DAB+ system, along with transmitting digital radio on the DVB-H system, and on DVB-T for in-home reception.

As France is such an important market, and as Australia and New Zealand are also planning on using DAB+, as well as various other countries deciding not to use the old DAB system, this decision means that the odl DAB system is now effectively dead, apart from in the UK and Denmark, because it is now highly unlikely that any countries will decide to adopt the old DAB system when the new DAB+ standard is so close to being released.

This news also makes it highly likely that the UK will switch over to the new DAB+ at some point, which I discuss in the article, and it effectively brings the long pro/anti debate about whether the old DAB system should be adopted to a final conclusion — the old DAB system is now effectively dead! more

27th September 2006

In an interview about the evolving DAB system on Swedish Radio yesterday, WorldDAB's Project Director, Kelly Griffiths commented on the number of radio stations that would be able to transmit on "DAB" in future:

"It will allow more channels using the same frequency and the same multiplex, so about three-times the amount of channels will be available."

This can only be a reference to the DAB system adopting the AAC+ audio codec. WorldDAB will be issuing a press release on the subject next week on the subject.

Watch this space... more

27th September 2006

The BBC has signed a £1.8bn deal with transmission services provider Arqiva (the new name for NTL Broadcast) for it to upgrade the current low-power DTT transmission network to the higher powers that will be allowed once analogue TV has been switched off, which will happen on a region-by-region basis from next year or 2008, and is set to conclude by 2012.

Included in the deal is the possibility for providing a further 160 DAB transmitters. more

12th September 2006

The leading Danish newspaper, Politiken, is quoting Paul Samsøe, the head of engineering from DR, which is the Danish equivalent of BBC Radio, as saying that, when asked whether owners of DAB receivers will have to replace their DAB radios in five years' time, Paul Samsøe replied:

"Yes - just like you'll also have to get a new television set and a new mobile phone." more

8th September 2006

The President of WorldDAB, Quentin Howard, who is also the chief executive of the UK national commercial DAB multiplex operator, Digital One, has proposed that WorldDAB should change its name to WorldDMB, and if it is voted through, the name would change at the WorldDAB general assembly in October. more

8th September 2006

Many of you will no doubt have seen on the BBC News that Virgin Mobile will be launching a new mobile TV service that's transmitted over the DAB system. But many of you won't be aware that each mobile TV channel will only be using a bit rate of 59 kbps, and the picture and audio quality will therefore be unspeakably bad. more

8th September 2006

I've mentioned the AAC/AAC+ audio codec on this website many times, and Nero has released a free command line MPEG-4 AAC/AAC+ encoder, which performs very well, so I've written a page with simple 'quick start' instructions for how to use Nero's encoder so that you can test its performance for yourselves. more

8th September 2006

London-based speech station LBC has expanded to cover much of England by launching on all of the MXR regional DAB multiplexes on 1st September. Unfortunately, LBC is transmitting at just 48 kbps, and its audio quality is terrible. more

8th September 2006

TV channel Five has announced that it will launch two new TV channels on Freeview called Five US and Five Life on 16th and 15th October, respectively. more

8th September 2006

The BBC has submitted its iPlayer video-on-demand and simulcasting service to the BBC Governors for them to carry out a Public Value Test.

The iPlayer will consist of a 'catch-up' service for TV and radio programmes that people can download for up to 7 days after they were broadcast, as well as including simulcasts of the BBC TV channels and audio downloads with no time limit. The BBC Radio Player will also be incorporated into the iPlayer in future. more

11th August 2006

Radio stations from the national public service broadcaster, Swedish Radio: P1, P2 Music, P3 Star as well as Sisuaradio, are being carried on the Swedish DVB-H trial in Stockholm, which launched (earlier than reported) on the 8th August. more

11th August 2006

The two major problems with the current DAB system are that:

• Transmission costs are extremely expensive
• There is insufficient spectrum available to carry everything that needs to be carried on the DAB system

Both of the above two problems make it inevitable that radio stations will be transmitted at low audio quality if the current outdated DAB system is used, because radio stations will be forced to transmit at low bit rates. 

However, as I will explain in the article, if DAB adopts the AAC+ audio codec then both of these major problems with the DAB system will be solved. more

11th August 2006

Australia has already committed to using the AAC+ audio codec on DAB when it launches digital radio on 1st January 2009, so DAB is definitely adopting the AAC+ codec, so why on earth doesn't WorldDAB just say this and avoid all the negative comments from the numerous countries that have said they don't want to use DAB because it's totally out-of-date? more

11th August 2006

Quoting from the Wohnort DAB website:

"In Germany, the Private Radio and Telecommunications Federation (VPRT) has published a position paper on digital radio. The main points: Radio should not be limited to one means of digital distribution. Both DMB in the immediate term and DVB-H in the medium term appear to the VPRT to be suitable broadcasting standards. The "classic" DAB system should be either modernised or switched off."

This is a major blow to the current version of the DAB system that was designed in the 1980s, and it follows decisions from numerous other countries that are opposed to using this out-of-date version of the DAB system. more

11th August 2006

A licence for a DVB-H multiplex in Finland has been awarded, with the proviso that the service must launch by 1st December this year. more

2nd August 2006

What's thought to be the world's first subscription-based digital terrestrial radio service has launched in Singapore, with 10 radio stations transmitting on a T-DMB multiplex. more

2nd August 2006

In possibly the last instalment of the Radio 3 on DAB saga, the BBC has belatedly changed the audio mode from discrete stereo to joint stereo. more

2nd August 2006

Ofcom has proposed to legalise low power FM transmitters, such as the iTrip FM transmitter for iPods, which are popular abroad and widely available on the Internet.  more

2nd August 2006

The Chyrsalis commercial radio group has acquired the DNN (Digital News Network) station that transmits on the regional DAB multiplexes and it plans to replace DNN with the London-based speech radio station, LBC.  more

2nd August 2006

Feedback on Radio 4 featured the issue of Radio 3's audio quality reduction last weekend after receiving a lot of letters from disgruntled Radio 3 listeners. The reduction in audio quality has been caused by its drop in the bit rate used for Radio 3 on DAB from 192 kbps to 160 kbps.  more

2nd August 2006

A micro system with a T-DMB receiver in it has been launched for what's thought to be the world's first subscription digital terrestrial radio service in Singapore, and T-DMB car stereos, portable radios and handheld radios have also been designed, which will be launched soon. 

These new receivers are the first that have been designed specifically to receive radio stations, whereas previous T-DMB receivers have all been aimed at the mobile TV market. more

2nd August 2006

The first commercial launch of a mobile TV service using the DVB-H system has attracted 111,000 in its first 6 weeks since launch on 5th June, according to 3 Italia, the mobile network operator that launched the national service. more

2nd August 2006

Sky have released figures that show that 90,000 people have signed up for their Sky HD service, which was launched on May 22nd. more

27th July 2006

The 'template' email the BBC is sending to everyone who's complaining about Radio 3's bit rate being reduced from 192 to 160 kbps is using slightly changed language from the earlier template email — are they climbing down? more

27th July 2006

Someone has received an email from a Senior Producer at Radio 5 Sports Extra, which gives some more information about the change in bit rate of Radio 3 from 192 to 160 kbps. more

11th July 2006

Seemingly not content to provide all of its other music radio stations at low audio quality on DAB, the BBC has just reduced the bit rate of Radio 3 from 192 kbps to 160 kbps.  more