TORONTO – The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) has thrown its support behind a voluntary North American digital radio standard.
A position paper developed by the NABA Radio Committee’s digital radio working group says that harmonizing regulatory and technical elements in Canada, Mexico and the United States would encourage the rapid adoption of the technology and enhanced digital services, which will benefit the consumer and all industry stakeholders.
“The development of a voluntary digital radio broadcast standard in North America will greatly benefit listeners by providing for new and enhanced broadcasting services that are accessible across the entire continent”, reads the paper. “Having a continental digital radio market will assist broadcasters in planning and creating a unified set of program and data services compatible across the majority of OEM automotive receivers, arguably the most impactful and relevant platform for radio listening. The standardization of digital radio services simplifies content creation toolsets for data and program service vendors, reducing cost and complexity of development and system testing. These actions all help realize the rapid adoption of digital radio.”
NABA added that the paper represents the Radio Committee’s consensus about the future of over-the-air digital radio and has been supported by the NABA Board of Directors.
