DAB Radio Pros and Cons

superfootyfan

Hi guys I'm considering buying a DAB radio for myself could someone give me a few pointers on what to look out for ? Thanks in advance !!:)

Elmo

superfootyfan wrote: »

Hi guys I'm considering buying a DAB radio for myself could someone give me a few pointers on what to look out for ? Thanks in advance !!:)

DAB is only available in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. None of the lndependent stations are available on the DAB service (e.g. Newstalk, Today FM, 4FM, Beat FM, Red FM etc). RTÉ have a few new services including RTÉ Radio One Extra, RTÉ Choice, RTÉ Junior/Chill, RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Gold and RTÉ Pulse.

more info here: -

www.rte.ie/digitalradio

Biffo The Bare

I bought this Sony DAB radio in Argos for €49.99 before Christmas.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/reviews/review.phtml/2492/3516/sony-xdr-s50-dab-digital-radio.phtml

Brilliant clear sound for its size.
Pity the DAB choice is so bad in Dublin. What the hell are the BCI doing. They should be allocating the independent slots free of charge to the commercial stations. DAB is going to end up like DTT in this country for no other reason than the stupidity of the BCI.:mad:

Elmo

Biffo The Bare wrote: »

Brilliant clear sound for its size.
Pity the DAB choice is so bad in Dublin. What the hell are the BCI doing. They should be allocating the independent slots free of charge to the commercial stations. DAB is going to end up like DTT in this country for no other reason than the stupidity of the BCI.:mad:

Why should commerical business rely on the RTÉ NL to provide them with free access to innovations which will be paid for by the public.

The BCI should be forcing the Independents to be involved with the role out rather than waiting until it is all paid for and sparkling new. PPP, public private partnership not Private Money making out of Public Funds. Many of them have their own networks which could be digital set up. The Indos need to cop on IMO. Where's the entrapenurial spirit.

Biffo The Bare

Elmo wrote: »

Why should commerical business rely on the RTÉ NL to provide them with free access to innovations which will be paid for by the public.

The BCI should be forcing the Independents to be involved with the role out rather than waiting until it is all paid for and sparkling new. PPP, public private partnership not Private Money making out of Public Funds. Many of them have their own networks which could be digital set up. The Indos need to cop on IMO. Where's the entrapenurial spirit.

You cannot force anybody to do anything. As long as there are analogue frequency allocations for the commercial stations, they will continue to use them. There is no incentive for the listener to buy DAB radios because there are no commercial radio stations on DAB. There is no incentive for the commercials to invest in DAB because there are no listeners because there are no commercial radio stations on DAB. Something has to give, or DAB is dead.
Thats why I say to the BCI, let them on the network for free, to kick start some interest in the technology.

Elmo

Biffo The Bare wrote: »

You cannot force anybody to do anything. As long as there are analogue frequency allocations for the commercial stations, they will continue to use them. There is no incentive for the listener to buy DAB radios because there are no commercial radio stations on DAB. There is no incentive for the commercials to invest in DAB because there are no listeners because there are no commercial radio stations on DAB. Something has to give, or DAB is dead.
Thats why I say to the BCI, let them on the network for free, to kick start some interest in the technology.

That is exactly what the Indos are saying.

Basically give us this new technology free so we can continue the reap the rewards of our FM contract without giving anything back to the public.

No listeners because noone has a DAB because we aren't on the service. Sounds like Bullying from the IIB to RTÉ and the BCI. In other words the IIB are trying to force the public into handing them their profits.

Also some of the Indos have their own networks which could be upgraded tomorrow. But they will probably wait for some kind of hand out from the public as usual.

watty

But what is the point of DAB? Digital for the sake of being digital.

Someone HAS to pay and why should ANYONE pay twice as much for broadcast with no advantage to them or the Listener?

There is no point in providing it free. RTE hasn't even the money to do it nationally 100% coverage, without which there is no point in a Car radio with DAB.


See the earlier posts Biffo. DAB is a failure in the UK.

Elmo

watty wrote: »

Someone HAS to pay and why should ANYONE pay twice as much for broadcast with no advantage to them or the Listener?

There is no point in providing it free. RTE hasn't even the money to do it nationally 100% coverage, without which there is no point in a Car radio with DAB.

Let communicorp or UTV role out the rest of the country. Lets face it there are very few real independent Radio stations left. They have to invest something into some new technology. Why should RTÉ bother with DAB? Why shouldn't they first reap the rewards of DAB before the people unwilling to help role out the project.

More Music

Elmo wrote: »

That is exactly what the Indos are saying.

Basically give us this new technology free so we can continue the reap the rewards of our FM contract without giving anything back to the public. .......

Also some of the Indos have their own networks which could be upgraded tomorrow. But they will probably wait for some kind of hand out from the public as usual.

Not quite. They are asking why we should invest in something in the current climate that will offer no benefit to listener or the operator. Nobody is going to give them the technology for free. Somebody has to purchase DAB transmitters/mux, masts, sites linking equipment and increased overheads. All the BCI can do is offer an incentive, like an extension to the FM license for any station that invests in DAB.

Whoever runs the commercial DAB Mux will need to generate income by selling capacity to radio stations. It won't be free for any station.

Name any financial handout that commercial stations got from the state. It's quite the opposite. There was a BCI/IRTC levy imposed on stations for years, it was % of the stations income. That is going to be re-introduced when the BAI gets off the ground.

The big problem with DAB here is what to do with the local stations. It's easy to roll out DAB in Dublin or Cork. It's quite a different matter in Donegal or Kerry. Having said that Radio Kerry invested in the DAB trial. They spent money on equipment to get their audio to Dublin. There was no direct return on that, (not expected either). They just wanted to be up there leading the way.

Elmo

More Music wrote: »

The big problem with DAB here is what to do with the local stations. It's easy to roll out DAB in Dublin or Cork. It's quite a different matter in Donegal or Kerry. Having said that Radio Kerry invested in the DAB trial. They spent money on equipment to get their audio to Dublin. There was no direct return on that, (not expected either). They just wanted to be up there leading the way.

Well done to Radio Kerry for doing something. The hand out comes from the money that RTÉ invests in the next few years, then at the end of all the talk and effort and Public Money the Independents will want to be part of the Digital Era, IMO that is a major hand out, when does RTÉ and Radio Kerry start make money on this investment. The independents expect to be put on for free while letting RTÉ take a risk in investing in Digital. You have to pay to get things of the ground.

Who is building the Commercial DAB mux?

More Music

Any money RTENL invests will be for the roll out of the RTE services.

RTE have no remit when it comes to the commercial multiplex. The only way for them to be involved is if they win the BCI advertised license to roll out the commercial mux. At that stage they will sell capacity on the mux to commercial operators. That capacity won't be open to just the existing radio operators. Think Dusty Rhodes etc.

RTENL are not going to roll out the RTE mux and the commercial one and then just gift it away. They will sell capacity.

There will be allocations for the national and regional muxes (muxii !). That's where the problems will be. The DAB regions won't cover the same franchise areas as FM does currently.

DAB roll out is different to FM as we know it. The commercial stations won't purchase and own DAB transmitters like they do with FM. A company will win the license and offer capacity.

Finally to answer your last question....nobody. Nothing has been advertised by the BCI as the framework isn't in place. The Broadcasting Bill is being finalised and then maybe we will see something happen.

lawhec

The problem as I see it is that there is no clear cut strategy for any digital terrestrial radio platform in the Irish Republic on a commercial basis. Until it switches off its television transmissions in VHF Band III, it's stuck with just two multiplexes for nationwide coverage (L Band was originally set aside for regional/local coverage but that's now out the door although in theory it could still be done). Obviously one is for RTÉ (12C) so the other works for commercial broadcasters (12A).

For current broadcasters to come on to a DAB platform, an incentive must be given. In the UK, any FM or MW commercial broadcaster that took up space on a DAB multiplex got an automatic 8 year extension on their analogue licence. The main disadvantage for most stations has been the cost of being on a platform which only has even for MW stations a minority of its listeners. While the BBC has used DAB to help increase its station portfolio, a commercial digital only station has yet to prove to be an unqualified success, on a national level Planet Rock is probably closest to achieving this. Absolute Radio (neé Virgin) has been promoting DAB for years now but still only around 40% of its listeners do so on digital platforms which is not just DAB but also satellite & DTT. In Northern Ireland only around 1/8th of the population own a DAB radio, and in most of the region outside of Belfast there is as much choice on FM as there is on DAB!

The main problem in the Republic is that with only a national commercial multiplex currently available (no regional or locals until VHF TV is shut down) is (a) finding stations willing to be on it and (b) giving incentives to current broadcasters to simulcast or even help provide new stations on the platform.

One thing I have never liked about the DAB system (same weakness applies to DAB+ too) is its strong ties to multiplexing and a lack of flexibility in this regard, this is why I prefer on a technical basis DRM and the unset standards of DRM+ as more elbow room is available to allow for single stations and small multiplexes; in general this is a different matter for another discussion but it does show a technical weakness that DAB holds in the Irish radio broadcasting sector. Quite simply where they can flex their muscle to show it, current broadcasters especially at regional and local level do not want more stations trying to muscle in on "their" terrority attempting to dilute their advertising revenues. Another question lies in who is the multiplex owner, assuming its the BCI (soon to be BAI) then they have the final say on who can broadcast what but if its not? Also in a platform where there is more choice available (or that is the plan) that what it succeeds, certain regulations like the 20% talk, news and current affairs rule will almost certainly have to be reduced or abolished if niche stations were to survive.

As I see it right now, there is no strategy for commercial DAB in the Republic and no want of one from the current broadcasters on a permanent basis except for perhaps like Radio Kerry (as already mentioned) and maybe a newcomer like 4FM who could extend their coverage. RTÉ is at least trying out their own thing with DAB, but it looks like any move from FM for commercial broadcasters is some way ahead in the future.

Moriarty

If there was any sense in government, RTENL would be subsumed into one state agency to control wholesale provision of communications networks around the country, along with the tracts of fibre a multitude of other state and semi-state companies own.

Get the BCI to incentivise a move to DAB/[whatever digital radio standard makes the most sense] over 6/7 years, with analog licence fees increasing heavily over that period while remaining static on the digital mux's.

This isn't rocket science, but it requires a minister who's willing to fight internal beurocractic inertia in each of the relevant (semi-)state organisations and we certainly don't have that at the moment.

Elmo

Moriarty wrote: »

If there was any sense in government, RTENL would be subsumed into one state agency to control wholesale provision of communications networks around the country, along with the tracts of fibre a multitude of other state and semi-state companies own.

RTENL are not going to roll out the RTE mux and the commercial one and then just gift it away. They will sell capacity.

To me what both of these statements are saying is

Public Fund infastructure and bring about new innovations so that we the Private sector can use and make profits on, while you take money from us, to maintain the network, and may just may be some day the public will make a return on that initial investment and when you do breakeven, sure sell it on to us here in the private sector

Also what who own the analogue commerical networks? I know some of the locals have some networks but doesn't RTE broadcast Newstalk and Today FM. Did either Newstalk or Today FM build any type of network?

More Music

RTENL is a private commercial company whose main purpose is to make profits through transmission services.

Maybe some kind of digital commission who report to the BAI would work. It could be made up of BAI, RTE, commercial stations and other interested parties.

An ASO would give something to work towards.

More Music

RTENL is a private commercial company whose main purpose is to make profits through transmission services.

Maybe some kind of digital commission who report to the BAI would work. It could be made up of BAI, RTE, commercial stations and other interested parties.

An ASO would give something to work towards.

Elmo,

I am not saying use public funds. I'm not even saying RTENL (private company) will be awarded the license. It could be BT, Denis O' Brien or a consortium of local stations. It doesn't matter who builds the commercial mux, they will build it to make profits from it.

Public money is being used to build the public service mux. That's the one that RTE own and operate. All the RTE stations are on it and it's funded only by RTE. It's no different to the RTE DTT Mux, public money for the public service broadcaster. RTE weren't offering Boxer free carriage on the commercial mux.

RTENL even charge RTE for facilites.

Regarding the analog commercial networks:

Today FM pay RTENL for FM transmission services, site rental and programme distribution. Today FM don't own any FM transmitters. This is what RTENL do. They make money from providing transmission facilities. RTENL buy the equipment and install it, you then rent it and RTENL make their money back over a couple of years. With a deal like this RTENL will also maintain the equipment.

Newstalk built their own network. They bought their own transmitters and installed them. They just rent space from RTENL, not renting transmission or distribution.

You might have missed my earlier point:

Name any financial handout that commercial stations got from the state. It's quite the opposite. There was a BCI/IRTC levy imposed on stations for years, it was % of the stations income. That is going to be re-introduced when the BAI gets off the ground.

There may an incentive to go digital (like a licence extension) but the state will not buy buying DAB transmitters for commercial operators.

Moriarty

Elmo wrote: »

To me what both of these statements are saying is

Public Fund infastructure and bring about new innovations so that we the Private sector can use and make profits on, while you take money from us, to maintain the network, and may just may be some day the public will make a return on that initial investment and when you do breakeven, sure sell it on to us here in the private sector

It's in the states benefit to have a single nationwide wholesale network, which will only realisticly be done by a state-controlled company. It'll be a way to ensure fair and equitable access to the radio waves for all. Combining all of these networks will mean very real savings and benefits of scale. That in turn will help competing broadcast and telecoms companies, and also open up parts of the country that have been effectively cut off from advanced communication networks. This has been needed for well over a decade and has severly limited investment around the country. Only the state is in the position to provide it.

There will be the opportunity to make a good return on the initial investment on top of this, there's no reason for it to not make a healthy profit for continued reinvestment in the network and r&d, or dividends returned to central government.

More Music

Lest we forget the BBC invented DAB in the first place with UK public funds.

Could they have held out for a trademark/copyright and licensed the technology to 3rd parties.

Biffo The Bare

watty wrote: »

But what is the point of DAB? Digital for the sake of being digital.

Someone HAS to pay and why should ANYONE pay twice as much for broadcast with no advantage to them or the Listener?

There is no point in providing it free. RTE hasn't even the money to do it nationally 100% coverage, without which there is no point in a Car radio with DAB.


See the earlier posts Biffo. DAB is a failure in the UK.

I respectfully disagree with this.
How do you measure failure? Sky+ was a failure in the first 2 years of its existence.
DAB is great. a neat, convenient, clean and clutter free way to enjoy radio.
What is needed is an infrastructure in place to ensure quality, coverage and decent choice for its listener. If that means throwing some sort of carrot in front of the commercial stations to get them to use the network, then do it.
The reason for Ireland being in the Digital third world is lack of innovative thinking within the BCI and Government. The state of DAB in Ireland is merely a symptom of this. The state of DTT is also a symptom.

Solair

More Music wrote: »

Lest we forget the BBC invented DAB in the first place with UK public funds.

Could they have held out for a trademark/copyright and licensed the technology to 3rd parties.

No they didn't!
DAB was developed by the research arm of the German, Austrian and Swiss Public Service Broadcasters, institut fur radiofunktechnik in Munich.

It dates back to the early 1980s.

The same institute also invented DVB-T and also was the driving force behind the PAL colour system!

DAB was adopted ad an EU funded project in the 80s and 90s under the Eurika programme
BBC was simply the first big customer.

Elmo

I note that most commerical music stations are suggesting that the are available in Digital. Is this not false advertising.

I relation to the above post I understand the need for a PSB network, but the benefits for commericals seem only to appear when they get something out of it, yet they all seem drowning themselves out with similar styles or just plain stupid programming decisions in particular NewsTalk. No investment and certainly no entrapenurial skills in Irish Radio, here's a licence now go print money. Yes I understand they have to make money, but to make money you have to spead money and take risks.

BrianD

Elmo wrote: »

I note that most commerical music stations are suggesting that the are available in Digital. Is this not false advertising.

Most of the stations that claim to be available on Digital are available on digital cable so it wouldn't be false advertising.

I relation to the above post I understand the need for a PSB network, but the benefits for commericals seem only to appear when they get something out of it, yet they all seem drowning themselves out with similar styles or just plain stupid programming decisions in particular NewsTalk. No investment and certainly no entrapenurial skills in Irish Radio, here's a licence now go print money. Yes I understand they have to make money, but to make money you have to spead money and take risks.

I wouldn't entirely agree. Unfortunately, there is no framework for the independent sector to migrate to digital (whatever format that maybe). It would be wrong to say that there is "no investment or entrepeneurial skills in Irish radio". The independent sector is very strong. Over half of the population listen to independent radio everyday to be entertained and informed. There has been huge risks taken especially in the last ten years with new specialised and regional services. Large investments are required to get these services up and running.

In terms of entrepeneurs. Denis O'Brien started with Classic Hits 98FM in 1989 and now has 44 stations in 9 countries. I would call that an entrpeneurial spirit.

I would disagree with another poster who said that DAB is a failure in the UK. This is not true. 12.7% listen to the radio via DAB. This is 6 times more than those who listen online. The estimate is that about 30% of radio listeners have access to DAB receivers. The problem is that there is no incentive to switch to DAB - FM still exists and FM receivers are omnipresent. DAb also lacks a killer USP that, say, digital TV has. There aren't 100's of channels nor is there a real difference in audio quality. Digital TV has also had the driver of a switch off date which FM lacks.

What is killing DAB from a business point of view is cost. The UK replicated the existing FM franchise system. Which meant that there were more MUXes installed that necessary. On top of this most FM radio services have to pay the cost of having two transmission systems - FM and DAB. The cost of transmission on DAB in the UK is high.

One hopes that when digital radio is introduced here that the mistakes of the UK aren't replicated (otherwise we could end up with over 26 muxes). There is also a preference for DAB+ within the independent sector.

Australia seem to be making a good job of switching to Digital radio. All the stations have agreed on the technology and are promoting it on air and online. In this way they are almost making a listener event where they are creating listener excitement about the new technology and almost make it seem that it is listener driven as opposed to something that the industry/government came up with (which of course it is).

http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/

Elmo

It would be wrong to say that there is "no investment or entrepeneurial skills in Irish radio". The independent sector is very strong. Over half of the population listen to independent radio everyday to be entertained and informed. There has been huge risks taken especially in the last ten years with new specialised and regional services. Large investments are required to get these services up and running.

In terms of entrepeneurs. Denis O'Brien started with Classic Hits 98FM in 1989 and now has 44 stations in 9 countries. I would call that an entrpeneurial spirit.

If you even read Denis O'Brien's own version of events from 1989 to 2003 in Esat: A business success (or something) you get the impression that he was constantly given licenses left, right and centre. His initial projects didn't work out e.g. The shopping Channel: A pan-European channel aimed at the UK market.

Even Radio 2000 98FM license feels like a fob to him back then because Century won the national license.

In the business scene the Independent sector is strong, but lets face it they aren't trying anything too risky, even listening to Q102 you could suggest that it is just a replica of 98fm and fm104, and spin (another communicorp operation) is just a so called youth version of those channels, introducing the news with "I am ...., and this is the story .... " doesn't make it hip or cool or young it just makes you sound stupid.

And in more recent years all of the major independent services have merged. Communicorp owns 98fm, Spin, Spin South West, Today FM and Newstalk.

And yet the IBI (Independent Broadcasters of Ireland) insist on suggesting that RTÉ have the advantage of loyalty due their many years as a Monopoly and their interest in Television. Yet across the country more people listen to independent stations, many don't remember the monopoly that RTÉ had in radio (I know I don't) and many of the so called independents aren't independent but are part of a bigger Radio organization such as Communicorp or UTV Radio.

There is nothing to suggest that UTV couldn't heavily promote its TV channel across all of its radio stations, or that NewsTalk couldn't be used as the main news for all of Communicorps Radio services or that they couldn't promote the Last Word on Newstalk or that Newstalk couldn't sponsor The Last Word on Today FM.

So to all of the radio stations that are currently on the air, start promoting on your own services and start some new well researched programming rather then personality driven drivel.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/story.aspx?id=92785&m=5.3.4.0&h=listen-up--i-want-to-be-first-with-a-word-in-your-ear-each-morning

Most of the stations that claim to be available on Digital are available on digital cable so it wouldn't be false advertising.

They claim to be across the country on Digital or across Dublin or wherever, the listeners may not be able to get UPC Digital. And they are suggesting they are on Digital what if one of their listeners bought a DAB radio!

watty

We don't actually need "digital Radio" on Terrestrial.

The 88MHz to 108MHz band gives better coverage than band III

DAB is no better in features or quality than FM + RDS for the listener

DAB is always going to be more power hungry and bulky for a receiver.

The 88MHZ 108MHz can't be really used for anything else and any switch off period would be nearly 30 years.

DAB is fairly much a dead duck world wide and failing in UK. It's also obsolete Codecs.
It's a solution looking for a problem that didn't exist.

Mossy Monk

I was reading about HD radio today. They use it in the states. Would that not have been a better solution?

BrianD

Mossy Monk wrote: »

I was reading about HD radio today. They use it in the states. Would that not have been a better solution?

The big advantage of this to broadcasters is that it's "in band" (if that's the right term) so that the digital signal is transmitted on the FM signal. Whether the listener is seeking the analogue or digital service they head to the FM frequency that they are used to. Big advantage if the station has spent millions over the years in marketing the frequency. I also hear that the audio quality can be up to CD quality (320).

Watty - I'm not sure if I've interpreted the first line of your post correctly but it is absolutely essential that Irish broadcasters have access to a free to air digital terrestrial system even if it is 30 years down the line. I agree that DAB in the UK almost seems to be for the sake of it. It really hasn't had listener or industry support. It would be my view that this is not down to the technology but down to the way it was rolled out and the crucifying cost for ardio stations to be on DAB.

watty

DAB isn't good tech. It was too early.

Unlike TV there is no actual need to turn off Analogue FM Radio, nor are there any real plans to do so in Europe.

Even TV was more about saving spectrum than quality, though you do get WS and HD. The main drivers for Terrestrial Digtal TV is that 100MHz to 200MHz or even 400MHz can be freed and sold off in prime spectrum (Analogue FM is only 20MHz at useless for anything other than Broadcast radio band). You can get maybe 10 TV channels in the space of one Analogue, or even more.
The compression for similar robustness of signal as Band II FM and quality isn't significant using MP2 of DAB. The AAC encoding used on DRM only really comes close.

On Digital TV there is not a power/complexity issue. On Radio there is. You can make an FM radio on a $1 chip that runs off two AAA cells for months. A DAB Radio can never compete on portability and robustness of signal. DAB is digital for the sake of it.

If there ever is a viable National Terrestrial Digital Radio system the Commercial stations of course should have access. Maybe DRM+ for VHF. Even then the receiver cost, size & power consumption is always going to be much more than FM, though it solves all the other issues of DAB. We will have DRM on Long Wave, Medium and shortwave and all AM stations gone before there is a VHF replacement.

Ordinary DRM gives very good quality. Probably better than some DAB muxes. Why not get a licence for that today on 567kHz or some other MW channel? Nationwide coverage on one transmitter. Better than 128K DAB (MP2) using AAC. Or an HF licence.
Ireland is almost the only country with no HF transmissions. We ought to have a bucket load of unused HF licences. DRM is the mode for that too.

BrianD

watty wrote: »

DAB isn't good tech. It was too early.

Unlike TV there is no actual need to turn off Analogue FM Radio, nor are there any real plans to do so in Europe.

Even TV was more about saving spectrum than quality, though you do get WS and HD. The main drivers for Terrestrial Digtal TV is that 100MHz to 200MHz or even 400MHz can be freed and sold off in prime spectrum (Analogue FM is only 20MHz at useless for anything other than Broadcast radio band). You can get maybe 10 TV channels in the space of one Analogue, or even more.
The compression for similar robustness of signal as Band II FM and quality isn't significant using MP2 of DAB. The AAC encoding used on DRM only really comes close.

On Digital TV there is not a power/complexity issue. On Radio there is. You can make an FM radio on a $1 chip that runs off two AAA cells for months. A DAB Radio can never compete on portability and robustness of signal. DAB is digital for the sake of it.

If there ever is a viable National Terrestrial Digital Radio system the Commercial stations of course should have access. Maybe DRM+ for VHF. Even then the receiver cost, size & power consumption is always going to be much more than FM, though it solves all the other issues of DAB. We will have DRM on Long Wave, Medium and shortwave and all AM stations gone before there is a VHF replacement.

Ordinary DRM gives very good quality. Probably better than some DAB muxes. Why not get a licence for that today on 567kHz or some other MW channel? Nationwide coverage on one transmitter. Better than 128K DAB (MP2) using AAC. Or an HF licence.
Ireland is almost the only country with no HF transmissions. We ought to have a bucket load of unused HF licences. DRM is the mode for that too.

What's your view on the HD (Hybrid Digital) system in the US of A?

watty

Pointless Marketing like Gold Plated ferrules on Fibre cables for home Cinema.

Though their FM is not quite the same as ours. Similar enough though that a USA radio here only needs the treble control adjusted.

Sirus had to merge with XM and then Liberty Global had to stick another $230M in.

Audio isn't like TV. With TV if you have only 480 lines (USA unlike our 576 lines) and 56" TVs and evil 24 fps to 30fps Telecine pulldown artifact you do need a 720p HD TV system badly. Radio doesn't need digital sorround sound (no content). TV Surround sound needs Digital for cinema content where you have 3 to 4 effects channels (it's not real surround sound like BBC experiment concert recordings, Ambisonic or quadrasonic). If you add 3m high 1kW column speakers any decent FM signal not overprocessed is STILL better than most MP3s and DAB. So what's the point of a hybrid Digital FM service for radio?

A car has a lot of background noise, so has portable set or "walkman"/pmp/phone radio on earbuds. In the home you can have Digital Radio on your Sat/cable/DTT setbox on your "home cinema". I have no FM radio in Living room. I do have 2000 odd Digital Radio stations.
Bedroom, study, car, portable I have AM/FM LW-MW-VHF. I also use Internet radio via Wifi on Archos and E65 phone. I have 6 stations "saved" on phone and special app with TV/Radio web channels integrated into music/TV browser/playlists on the Archos 605WiFi

FM gives about 8 local/community/commercial radio as well as the national FM. Most people I know only use radio for the news. They have 2G to 160G PMPs with their own playlists and music.

shoegirl

More Music wrote: »

The big problem with DAB here is what to do with the local stations. It's easy to roll out DAB in Dublin or Cork. It's quite a different matter in Donegal or Kerry. Having said that Radio Kerry invested in the DAB trial. They spent money on equipment to get their audio to Dublin. There was no direct return on that, (not expected either). They just wanted to be up there leading the way.

In all honesty, this is a country where only 92% of the population are alleged to have analogue TV reception and I suspect, having lived in a few towns or villages in Cork where it was unusuable and you saw the usual rows and rows of Sky dishes, I suspect the real coverage level is a lot poorer - I am guessing the 92% figure is probably based on households from 1982 or something like that before the massive construction boom, which seems to have left a lot of householders with poor utilities and sometimes zero reception. For example there are hundreds of apartments gone up on the Bailick Rd in Midleton where ALL tv reception is blocked by the woods on the other side of the river. Thats a lot of households, but I suspect this is covered up nicely by regulators and broadcaster networks alike.

For example, I often stay in a friends cottage just outside Carraigaline, but as expected ALL reception is really poor. Just wait until they start building 1000+ house developments in that area (not unlikely). Most new householders in outlying areas are being forced onto the Sky platform for this reason which is effectively blitzing out both DTT (since it removes demand for it, and provides a real case for Sky to try to oppose its implementation since they would lose vast amounts of business) and traditional analogue services which provide less, even if they were improved.

The DAB situation I do find is going to be down to two things - the threat of the analogue turn off (especially from the UK since a lot of people can pick up quite a few services in Ireland) and willingness to spend on centralized services. But same issue as the Radio Kerry issue - if the MUX is national it means that effectively small local stations may be forced to pay more initially to be on a national service. Of course the only way around this is to make it a requirement for all stations, then the cost is shared and there is a level playing field. It does blow away the idea of regional services though.

What I did resent for the few years I was forced to be a Sky subscriber in order to view Irish TV was paying twice for broadcasts - first via the TV licence, and again to receive from Sky. Its deeply unjust that so many people are charged to "watch" channels that they cannot receive with a terrestrial aerial.

Well thats my rant over.

Apogee

shoegirl wrote: »

In all honesty, this is a country where only 92% of the population are alleged to have analogue TV reception

It's much higher than 92% - allegedly.

Deputy Noel J. Coonan: Did Mr. Hayes state that the service will be available nationwide by next summer?

Mr. Conor Hayes: Our obligation is to launch the service on 31 December 2012. Obviously, one must work back from that date.

Deputy Noel J. Coonan: Will it be for the entire country or only a part of it?

Mr. Conor Hayes: If a successful commercial contract was negotiated, we believe we would be able to provide a service to 85% of the country from the summer of next year.

Deputy Noel J. Coonan: So Mr. Hayes is only in a position to provide a tentative indication that 85% of the country will have the service by the summer of next year.

Mr. Conor Hayes: It would quickly move above 90% in the following year.

Deputy Noel J. Coonan: What would be the position with regard to the remainder of the country?

Mr. Conor Hayes: The other services would not be switched off until the full DTT service was in place. The analogue service will be in place right through until the end of 2012.

Deputy Noel J. Coonan: Some parts of the country do not even have access to that service at present.

Mr. Conor Hayes: RTE 1 and RTE 2 are broadcast to 99% of homes throughout the country, TG4 is broadcast to 95% and TV3 to 84.8%.

Deputy Noel J. Coonan: However, we need a 100% service.

Mr. Conor Hayes: That is the best we can do.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=MAJ20090611.xml&Node=H2&Page=5