BBC urged to fund digital radio rollout

The digital radio switchover could be delayed for up to a decade unless the BBC commits to improving the UK's digital broadcast infrastructure, an industry figure has warned.

Paul Keenan - the chief executive of Bauer Media, owner or the Kiss and Magic FM stations - urged the BBC to make a firm decision on its funding commitment for local digital audio broadcasting (DAB) transmitters.

Speaking to The Guardian, Keenan said that the lack of clarity over funding for DAB transmitters could put in jeopardy the government's aim to start switching off the analogue FM signal by 2015.

"What part, if any, is the BBC going to play on the local DAB level? Is the BBC going to continue to commit in a way that historically it has?" asked Keenan.

Last year, the BBC established 30 new digital radio transmitters around the UK, bringing digital services to a further 750,000 people and improving DAB coverage for 8.5 million.

Keenan said he was "very optimistic" that the corporation would commit to improving the UK's digital radio coverage at the local level.

However, it is thought that up to £200 million would be required to create a DAB network to match FM, and the BBC has little room for manoeuvre due to the 16% cut to its budget in real terms under the new licence fee settlement.

Keenan said that Bauer Media, which owns 42 stations reaching 13 million listeners, was "trying to be pragmatic" about the rather difficult road towards the digital switchover.

He believes that the UK will be using "triple or dual transmission for some considerable time to come", referring to the simultaneous operation of digital and analogue networks. Asked if that situation could last for a decade, Keenan said: "It could be in that sort of region."

However, he said that listeners would not necessarily be unhappy with a "mixed ecology" of FM and DAB, as people are "satisfied with quite a lot of the radio they have got".

The radio industry hopes to agree a solution to the DAB funding issue by March, but sources indicate that the BBC is not keen to provide a blank cheque for the initiative.