DAB Thread

Not in the UK, Germany, France, Benelux, Switzerland, Norway,

Nope. There is a massive selection of DAB across the border and I believe more stations are on the way.

The thread title says DAB banned in Ireland.

What is "indigenous" in the Republic of Ireland on the private radio market? They mostly seem to be owned by Bauer and form organizations in NI.

Let us see who jumps onto this.

It's fairly easy and cheap to start a DAB Mux. The Republic of Ireland is sadly missing out on this kind of dynamics.

DAB isn't banned in Ireland, but some users here and some decision makers in Ireland certainly behave that way.

I am not.

The way you ask the question points to the idea you don't want DAB at all. So why should I explain it to you.

I'll bite...

In the UK at least, access is cheaper, you get more coverage for your buck compared to FM

Equipment is cheaper

Rollout is cheaper (pooling of costs from a number of stations, compared to expensive, multicoupled FM radio setups)..

What's happened in Ireland is 2RN (RTE) and Comreg made DAB a monopoly, it was doomed from the beginning.

What made DAB viable in the UK is the D1 Mux, not the BBC mux.

How much cheaper?

Bear in mind any costs will be in addition to FM not instead of.

The BBC mux was the reason for people in the UK to get DAB radios in the first place, without which any commercial mux would not have been viable.

no, a factually proved statement which the answer to has been given on the other threads on the subject.

It's possible that Talk Sports might do an Irish DAB+ station at some time? ( They do have a Scotland specific service ) There would be lot's to cover and Talk Sports on AM won't last. And it's known Talk Sports has lot's of AM listeners in Ireland.

Maybe Bauer is interested in DAB+ in Ireland as well?

Ultimately it's about selling advertising at low transmission costs.

Only sales figures, not music.

Music and radio formats are more for us listeners to discuss.

The big corporates, for them it's money.

If they make enough money or think they can, and Ireland issues licenses on DAB+ and doesn't block it, they'll do it.

If not they won't.

We'll see. New cars all have DAB / DAB+ in the EU, so lot's of reachable audience while driving.

Lot's of no sayers also, lot's of ship have sailed, now it's too late attitudes to deal with as well.

There always has been a lot of interest from numerous entities... the biggest blocker was RTE (2RN) along with Comreg.

They wanted the MUX's locked down like the BBC MUX's are and effectively an Irish monopoly in DAB.

It will probably be this existing red tape which will kill it once and for all. 2RN will take their time in releasing the spectrum and won't allow existing infrastructure to be used. Comreg will take their sweet time on any new spectrum applications, 2RN will block any access to 2RN locations for rollout of a new MUX "just cos", which will mean a completely new build, in some possible sub-optimal sites for broadcast coverage.

I think this attitude will slowly kill Radio in Ireland.

Because of lack of DAB and DAB+ I hardly ever listen to the radio anymore. I simply don't like FM, it's outdated, and the cell phone offers anything via a flat rate on internet, and that mobile.

Here in UK there are 64 national stations that are currently broadcasting on DAB. I don't know if Ireland has a population that is big enough for as many national stations. Small playlists though.