Analysis of progress towards DAB digital radio switchover in the UK, written by Grant Goddard in December 2008 for The Register.

1. DAB RADIO SWITCHOVER: ONE
STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS
BACKWARD?
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
December 2008

2. In 2008, the wheels fell off the DAB digital radio platform. Last week, after a year of
deliberation, the government’s Digital Radio Working Group concluded that outdated DAB
technology should be the sole broadcast platform for UK radio, irrespective of global market
conditions or the impractical cost of its implementation. Whilst nobody would argue against a
digital future for radio, the Group's particular and peculiar vision of that digital future is more
contentious. It recommends that existing FM and AM transmitters should be switched off, to be
replaced by DAB, once radio listening has passed a threshold of 50% via digital platforms.
However, there are a number of challenges that would need to be overcome before such a
plan could be realised.
Paradoxically, the greatest obstacle is that the UK’s existing FM analogue radio transmission
system already provides amazingly robust radio reception to 99% of the population. Thanks to
the Herculean efforts since 1955 of BBC engineers who constructed 230 transmitter sites
across the UK, an almost ‘universal’ radio service is available to listeners. When commercial
radio launched in 1973, its FM rollout simply duplicated the infrastructure already operated by
the BBC.
In television, the imperative for digital switchover was to offer consumers a wider choice than
the maximum five channels available nationally on analogue, and the lure was significant
revenue for the Treasury from an auction of valuable spectrum. However, in radio, the existing
analogue spectrum is already sufficient to offer many more services than TV (32 stations in
London, local and national), while Ofcom research finds that most consumers are satisfied with
their existing choice of radio stations. Neither does the AM nor FM spectrum hold value for the
Treasury, as much is likely to be re-assigned to non-profit community radio services.
For commercial radio, the Working Group’s recommendation that it invest in launching further
digital-only services to attract listeners to the DAB platform would only exacerbate the sector’s
precarious financial situation. In fact, 2008 witnessed the closure of many digital radio brands
– TheJazz, OneWord, Core, Virgin Radio Groove, Capital Life, Mojo Radio – that had already
failed to generate sufficient audiences or revenues. Ratings for existing analogue ‘heritage’
stations are declining and sector revenues were falling even before the Credit Crunch, making
it impossible for the commercial radio sector to divert more resources into new digital ventures.
In terms of UK market penetration, nearly a decade after the DAB platform launched, only a
minority of consumers are demonstrating an interest in purchasing DAB radio receivers. 79%
of new radios sold during the last 12 months were analogue rather than DAB, and the decadeplus lifespan of the average radio makes the natural replacement cycle slow, particularly when
a typical household owns six radios. The Working Group’s expectation that, by the end of
2010, unit sales of DAB radios will exceed those of analogue radios looks very unlikely.
Even amongst the minority of consumers who own DAB radio receivers, the majority of their
listening via digital platforms is to stations they can already receive on analogue radio. Only
27% of commercial radio listening via digital platforms (DAB + digital TV + internet) is to digitalonly stations, a proportion that has declined during 2008 as many digital-only brands have
closed.
Data from the same RAJAR survey shows that in-car listening accounts for 20% of total radio
usage in the UK, though DAB radios remain a rarity in cars. In 2007, 2.4 million new vehicles
were registered in the UK, of which around a third offered the option to include a DAB radio as
a standard ‘line-fit’ or as an optional extra. Yet only 20,000 buyers chose to install a DAB radio.
It is estimated that, out of 34 million cars on the road in the UK, only 170,000 to 200,000
presently have DAB radios fitted.
Furthermore, although 37% of radio listening takes place outside of the home, not a single
model of mobile phone available in the UK incorporates DAB radio. Whilst an increasing
proportion of audio listening is now taking place ‘on the move’, the DAB platform will not
benefit from the strategies of global mobile ‘phone manufacturers to incorporate FM radio
and/or Wi-Fi connectivity within their devices.
DAB Radio Switchover: One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward?
©2008 Grant Goddard
page 2

3. For many users, the present DAB signal proves insufficiently robust for good reception in builtup areas, in basements, or on public transport. The DAB technology was implemented so as to
optimise in-car reception with an externally mounted aerial, even though cars have proven to
be DAB’s least used listening environment. As a result, in-home listening of DAB is not as
robust as for FM, resulting in complaints from users of ‘burbling’ audio.
In terms of spectrum efficiency, broadcasters’ usage of existing DAB frequencies is not
particularly efficient because the UK system uses the ‘MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2’ codec
developed in the 1980s. Although more efficient codecs have been developed subsequently,
and are being implemented in other countries under the ‘DAB+’ system, the UK is unlikely to
make such a switch because the majority of the 7 million DAB receivers sold to date are not
upgradeable.
To address some of these inadequacies, the Working Group’s report recommends that a
significant upgrade of existing DAB transmission networks is necessary to make reception as
robust as already exists for FM. However, the report sidesteps the immense costs that would
be involved. For example, the BBC’s national DAB multiplex presently costs £6 million per
annum for a network of 96 transmitters that cover 86% of the UK population. To increase
coverage to 99% would require 1,000 transmitters, increasing the cost significantly to £40
million per annum. Whereas the BBC operates only one national DAB network, the commercial
sector runs one national DAB network, an almost national patchwork of local DAB multiplexes,
and additional regional multiplexes in built-up areas. The costs to the commercial sector of
upgrades to all these transmitters would prove prohibitively expensive.
Faced with these challenging infrastructure and cost issues, the Working Group’s insistence
that the DAB platform must replace AM and FM radio broadcasting, by a target date of 2017,
seems dogmatic rather than practical. However, the Group’s insistence that “the [UK] radio
industry must have greater certainty and control of its future” explains its determination to
implement the DAB platform, seemingly at almost any cost, in order to sustain the existing
British radio broadcasting system.
At a global level, IP-delivered audio (‘internet radio’) is much more likely to become the main
platform for digital radio in the long term, as a supplement to existing FM analogue radio
broadcast systems in each country. However, the UK seems as determined as ever to plough
a different furrow. Just as we already have right-hand drive cars, pounds/ounces and sterling
instead of Euros, we can now add ‘DAB’ to our esoteric list.
Why the determination to go it (almost) alone? Possibly because the DAB platform offers our
existing UK radio monoliths, the BBC and commercial radio owners, one final opportunity to
maintain their ‘control’ over the radio content we listen to in this country. Remember that the
content gatekeepers of the DAB platform are the BBC and a cartel of the largest UK
commercial radio groups (not Ofcom), both of whom have already invested huge sums
building their duopolistic DAB infrastructure over the last decade. Whereas the internet radio
platform opens up the UK radio market to competition from unregulated content produced in all
parts of the globe, DAB ensures that we continue to listen to carefully regulated content
produced in the UK, and that we listen on uniquely expensive DAB radios made by UK
manufacturers for our relatively small UK market.
In this way, the UK-centric, protectionist, policies recommended by the Digital Radio Working
Group would seem to benefit large UK broadcast stakeholders … but not the consumer, who
will be expected to replace all six analogue radios in their home by 2017.
[First published by The Register as 'In The Ditch With DAB Radio', 29 December 2008.]
DAB Radio Switchover: One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward?
©2008 Grant Goddard
page 3

4. Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk
DAB Radio Switchover: One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward?
©2008 Grant Goddard
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