THE DIGITAL BRITAIN REPORT, an ambitious new plan by the leadership of the U.K. aimed at leading that country into the digital age, has set the year 2015 as the deadline when it will shut off analog transmission of radio station signals.
According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, the government there is hopeful the continued uptake of Digital Audio Broadcasting, the standard of choice across the Pond, will allow them to make the switch, freeing up additional OTA spectrum for other uses and multiplying opportunity for radio broadcasters. Right now, digital listening already accounts for just over 20% of tuning in Britain, says the report.
That made us wonder: Where the heck is digital radio in Canada? Are Canadian radio companies even half paying attention to it anymore? The industry here was once headed down the DAB path, but the digital seems to be nowhere on the radio radar in 2009. The latest “news” on digital radio in Canada is over 24 months old.
While we’ll likely end up following along with the in-band on channel (IBOC, or HD Radio) standard being adopted Stateside, going digital seems to be a dead issue for Canadian radio at this point in time. And that is a real shame because in most urban centres there are no more FM frequencies left, and moving to digital would open up a world of opportunity for micro-niche and other uber-targeted formats.
Maybe the existing players like that scarcity of supply… or maybe that’s a bit too cynical of a viewpoint. Maybe convincing ailing car companies another new dashboard thingy is needed would be pretty difficult right now.
The CRTC has been trying to pay attention to it, but knows the industry itself has to drive it. As vice-chair, broadcasting Michel Arpin said in a speech last week:
“There has been a strong demand for new FM radio licenses during the last few years. But we are now running into interference problems linked to second and third adjacent frequencies,” he told a panel session at the “invitation-only” 2009 Broadcasting Invitational Summit, hosted every year by the Northwind Professional Institute in Cambridge, Ont.
“In my opinion, the time has come for broadcasters to rethink their approach toward digital technologies. I’m convinced that their future growth and vitality depends on their ability to develop a digital platform.”
Because organizers of that gathering don’t invite media (and near as we can tell, nobody tweeted a word about what was said or posted anything of it anywhere, other than Arpin’s speech and another by CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein), we don’t know what the panellists – Newcap CEO Rob Steele, Rogers Radio CEO Paul Ski ,or Claude Beaudoin, director of RNC Media and Associate Professor in the Department of Management at HEC Montreal – had to say.
We’re hopeful Cartt.ca readers might have a rant or two about digital radio to get off their chests below. Should we go digital? Why? When? How? What’s standing in the way? What would a digital radio business plan look like?
You don’t even have to use your real name, just try and keep it somewhat professional…
