BBC may put stations on Digital One

The BBC may put one or more of its radio stations on the UK's only national commercial digital radio multiplex, Digital One.

Digital One has capacity for approximately ten audio services but only five slots are currently filled by Absolute Radio, Classic FM, TalkSport, Planet Rock, and a loop of birdsong. The BBC's national public service multiplex, however, currently broadcasts BBC Radio 1-7, 5 Live Sports Extra, 1Xtra, Asian Network and the World Service. With the exception of Radio 3, which goes out at 192kbps joint stereo, the BBC's music stations and Radio 4 broadcast at 128kbps joint stereo. 5 Live and BBC Radio 7 go out at 80kbps mono while the Asian Network and the World Service broadcast at only 64kbps in mono. Moving one or more of the stations would free up space to improve these bitrates or carry more services.

According to The Guardian, the plan would be to move the Asian Network and up to two other services from the BBC national ensemble to Digital One in an effort to shore up support for commercial digital radio services. Despite figures suggesting that greater numbers of listeners are tuning into DAB Digital Radio for longer, the industry is in the midst of a crisis in confidence after GCap's decision earlier this year to move its digital strategy away from DAB and Channel 4's decision to abandon plans to launch three new radio stations on a second national commercial multiplex.