Pushing the Switch Slowly

Michael Hedges January 3, 2005

European radio’s transition from analogue to digital broadcasting is moving forward, but very slowly. Despite rich promised benefits, advocates have discovered that neither they nor anybody else can force something new to happen.

A few years ago, regulators seemed prepared to fix dates, shutting off analogue broadcasting. In fact, dates have been set in a few countries for shutting off analogue television. Berlin-Brandenberg switched over to all digital television in August 2003.

“Very few countries have adopted a switchover policy when it comes to radio,” said WorldDAB President Annika Nyberg, “not to speak of setting a switchover date.

Switch-over considerations for radio are far different than those for television. Most television reception in Europe migrated to cable and satellite, with fixed, easily wired positions in households. Radio’s portability makes over the air transmission essential. And, while the average European household might have one or two television sets, 6 or more radios are common. For consumers, the average price of a digital radio is about 50% of the price of a digital television. A television set-top digital decoder costs 200 euros in Germany, about the same price of a digital radio.

Regulators universally support migration from analogue to digital radio as a more efficient allocation of spectrum. National frameworks allowing digital radio broadcasting have been in place since the mid to late 1990s. Equally, though, regulators are reluctant to force a radio switch-over.

The search for the “digital dividend” allowing more services in less spectrum space sends national regulators to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland. The first ITU conference in 15 years dealing with terrestrial spectrum was held in May.

In opening remarks to that conference ITU Radiocommunication Bureau director Valery Timofeev spelled out regulators needs:

"Frequency managers are keen to start freeing some parts of the frequency spectrum, currently used by the analogue broadcasting systems, for other applications not necessarily within the broadcasting service."

International agreements for spectrum planning first took shape in 1961 – the Stockholm Plan, which built a method for adopting new services. Little has changed except digital technology has changed everything. The pace of change leads many national regulators to prefer a more dynamic, less structured approach.  The structured approach, currently in place, forces regulators to consider effects on existing services as new services are implemented.

The ITU conference ended with two options for digital broadcasting. One would allow national regulators to establish a time-table for analogue to digital transition so long as one countries rules did not cause interference in another country. The other would set transition dates between 2028 and 2038 without requiring analogue shut-off. As recently as 1998, analogue shut-off was expected within 10 to 15 years.

Effectively the ITU Radiocommunications Conference took analogue shut-off off the regulators table.

European Union (EU) policy makers have kept rules for radio and television separate, with television receiving virtually all the attention. Digital technologies – broadband, the internet, mobile telephony - deliver all media and regulators “converge” on similar policies. Digital development is seen as an essential need to keep European media and technologies competitive in the world marketplace.

The EU is quite aware that digital radio technology – Eureka 147 (DAB) and Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) – is European. Considerable political capital has been invested in promoting home-grown innovation. Even with considerable interest in promoting European innovation and forming consistent pan-European policies, the European Commission has been extremely cautious about supporting individual technologies.

One effect of this regulatory convergence is a re-thinking about the scope of national regulators. The UK government combined five agencies in 2003 into one Office of Communications (OFCOM) to regulate radio, television, telecommunication and wireless services.  Spanish Minister of Commerce Jose Mantilla has proposed a similar “super-regulator” in Spain.

European national regulators have traditionally favored working with national public broadcasters (PSBs) in setting policies and standards. For digital radio, this has included allowing PSBs first access to licenses. Large, well-financed public broadcasters have invested in considerable sums in digital radio channels, often excluding commercial operators. Regulators reluctantly concluded that participation of private, commercial broadcasters is essential to digital radios development in mass markets.

Swedens Parliament set up a special Committee on Digital Radio, which reported its recommendations in February.  The proposals, endorsed by public broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) and the commercial radio association, would grant commercial broadcasters access to local digital multiplexes by 2005, limit further investment by SR and evaluate the entire digital market again in 2008 before making commitments to further expansion.

Digital radio’s strongest foothold in Europe is the UK. 130 digital channels from commercial operators, 32 of which are digital only. DAB digital radio covers 85% of the UK, according to OFCOMs Communications Market Report 2004 released in August. The report further reveals that 29% of adults listen to radio via digital television and 15% have listened to a radio station on line. RAJAR surveys show digital radio is the fastest growing segment of radio listening. Receivers are widely available and receiver manufacturers are coming out with new styles.

Speaking in September to a conference on digital broadcasting OFCOM Chief Executive Stephen Carter said the agency will use “all its powers of advocacy and persuasion for digital radio.” Yet OFCOM remains reluctant to set a date or even range of dates for analogue shut-off.

Setting a switch-off date too early, warned Carter, would make the transition “less achievable” for broadcasters. Forcing a date to “focus peoples minds can backfire on you.”

“I do not think that OFCOM, or the radio industry talking broadly about “switchover”, even if only as understandable shorthand, is entirely accurate. What we believe we should be thinking about and talking about is how do we get digital radio for and to everyone. Or put another way, how do we get the audience to want the analogue signal to be switched off?”

Earlier this summer at the UK Radio Festival OFCOMs Kip Meek suggested that analogue shut-off for radio would occur after television switches over. “We’re aiming for 2012 for TV,“ he said in a question and answer session, “and I don’t think it will be long after that for radio.”

With regulators and legislators reluctant to endorse analogue shut-off, digital radio developers have organized themselves regionally, placing added emphasis on program offerings and receiver availability and pricing. To promote digital radio, organizations have been launched in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and a Nordic regional association.

The UK Digital Radio Development Bureau released its optimistic forecast of 29% market penetration of UK homes by 2008. Said DRDB Chairman, Ralph Bernard: “As DAB digital radio edges closer to mass-market penetration, and the government moots the possibility of analogue switch-off, the DRDB Board feels the time is right to publish this market forecast.”

“French authorities say that it is too early and they want to launch digital radio first,“ said Yannick Andre.Masse of Vivement la Radio Numérique (VRN), the French association promoting digital radio. The French Parliament approved a new law providing a framework for digital radio in July.

“Germany seems to be going backward,” said one observer at the October WorldDAB General Assembly. Several German Länder – most recently Schleswig-Holstein - are considering withdrawing financial support for digital radio development due to lagging consumer interest. A country-wide advertising campaign promotion digital radio was launched in April by Initiative Marketing Digital Radio (IMDR) focusing on program offerings.

Club DAB Italia, formed in 1996, is licensed to operate a commercial multiplex in Milan. Nordini, the Nordic Radio Digital Initiative, was organized in 2003 to promote digital radio. Radio Numerique promotes digital radio in Belgium.

Speaking specifically about digital development in the UK from the point of view of commercial broadcasters, Paul Brown, Chief Executive of the Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA), effectively summed up the view of most broadcasters on digital switch-over:

“A way of moving that forward might be to say that we will decide the conditions that need to be met before setting a date and meet in three years to see how these have progressed and whether they give us the confidence to select a date at that point.  An announcement of this kind of process ought to give further confidence to manufacturers, broadcasters and consumers.”

Previously published in Radio World International, December 2004, in a slightly different form.