Media
'Crisis talks' over digital radio multiplex
Published Tuesday, Oct 14 2008, 09:33 BST | By James Welsh
Partners in the 4 Digital Radio consortium have held talks following the decision of Channel 4 - a 55% shareholder in the venture - to close its radio division.
According to The Guardian, conference calls have taken place between Sky, Bauer, Carphone Warehouse, UTV and UBC Media regarding the future of D2, the second national digital multiplex for which 4 Digital was awarded a licence to operate in July 2007.
At that time, the group pledged to spend £4.5m on marketing DAB Digital Radio over the first three years of the licence with an extra "£25 million marketing spend to support the launch of the individual new radio services". Services were scheduled to go on air this July but, as space became available on the existing national digital radio multiplex, Digital One, and the incentive to build a second national digital radio network evaporated, Ofcom approved a delay to the launch in June, after it emerged that contracts for the build-out of a second national multiplex transmission network were not completed as late as March. At the time it was thought that some of 4 Digital's proposed services would launch on Digital One; however, it is now thought that none of the stations - which included a radio spinoff of Bauer magazine Closer - will make it to air.
Bauer's chief marketing officer Andria Vidler said that the company would not launch Closer Radio "until the economic circumstances are better and the infrastructure is in place". It is understood that Sky has halted plans for Sky News Radio, another potential 4 Digital station, in the absence of an advertising sales partner. UTV, which owns AM station TalkSport and had planned to launch TalkRadio on the second multiplex, is not thought to have undertaken any investment in the proposed station.
Both Ofcom and the industry have reiterated their support for DAB as a platform; the regulator said it believes "that DAB offers listeners real benefits", and pointed to take-up figures suggesting that 11% of all radio listening takes place on a DAB set.
According to The Guardian, conference calls have taken place between Sky, Bauer, Carphone Warehouse, UTV and UBC Media regarding the future of D2, the second national digital multiplex for which 4 Digital was awarded a licence to operate in July 2007.
At that time, the group pledged to spend £4.5m on marketing DAB Digital Radio over the first three years of the licence with an extra "£25 million marketing spend to support the launch of the individual new radio services". Services were scheduled to go on air this July but, as space became available on the existing national digital radio multiplex, Digital One, and the incentive to build a second national digital radio network evaporated, Ofcom approved a delay to the launch in June, after it emerged that contracts for the build-out of a second national multiplex transmission network were not completed as late as March. At the time it was thought that some of 4 Digital's proposed services would launch on Digital One; however, it is now thought that none of the stations - which included a radio spinoff of Bauer magazine Closer - will make it to air.
Bauer's chief marketing officer Andria Vidler said that the company would not launch Closer Radio "until the economic circumstances are better and the infrastructure is in place". It is understood that Sky has halted plans for Sky News Radio, another potential 4 Digital station, in the absence of an advertising sales partner. UTV, which owns AM station TalkSport and had planned to launch TalkRadio on the second multiplex, is not thought to have undertaken any investment in the proposed station.
Both Ofcom and the industry have reiterated their support for DAB as a platform; the regulator said it believes "that DAB offers listeners real benefits", and pointed to take-up figures suggesting that 11% of all radio listening takes place on a DAB set.
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