RA Advertises Digital Radio Licence For Manchester

The Radio Authority is continuing its roll-out of local digital radio licences with the advertisement of a digital multiplex licence for Manchester. This is the second of these advertisements, following one for a Birmingham digital licence last month (see Newsline Brief).

Late last week, EMAP and Capital Radio announced that they have formed a joint venture which will bid for both of these digital licences, along with licences advertised for London (see Emap And Capital Join Forces To Bid For Digital Licences). If the bid for any of these digital licences is successful, EMAP and Capital will automatically gain extensions to their currently-broadcast analogue services which, in turn, will be simulcast on the digital multiplexes. The Manchester licence will deliver an audience of around 2.5 million adults (15+) and will be granted for an initial period of twelve years.

The big sell of digital radio at present, is that it will allow images and text to be associated with the core audio broadcast. This means that traffic information, electronic publishing or internet-style pages are all feasible services for digital audio broadcasting (DAB).

Enthusiasm for DAB has been far from unanimous, however. Just prior to the allocation of the national digital multiplex, which was awarded to Digital One (the sole applicant), Digital Media Broadcasting (DMB), a potential rival bidder, backed out saying that digital radio was ‘locked in an unstoppable downward spiral’. Peter Leutner, DMB’s chief executive and European Klassik Rock MD, said that there was a lack of commitment by hardware manufacturers to DAB (see Digital Radio Is In An ‘Unlockable Downward Spiral’, Says DMB Chief). It is crucial that the hardware is readily available, and at an appropriate price to the customer, if anyone is to be convinced of the merits of digital radio.

Earlier in the week Talk Radio said that it has decided not to invest in the 10% share of the Digital One consortium it held before TalkCo bought the station (see Talk Radio To Provide, Not Operate, Digital Radio). TalkCo’s chief, Kelvin MacKenzie said that he sees Talk Radio’s position primarily as a content provider, rather than operating multiplexes.

Digital One, which is majority-owned by GWR Group, may seek another partner since Talk has pulled out. A spokesperson for GWR this afternoon told Newsline that either the two remaining partners, GWR and NTL, will make up Talk’s 10% or the consortium will seek to bring in a new company. GWR is not able to confirm this either way, at present. In the light of Peter Leutner’s comments, it may be prudent of Digital One to team up with a hardware manufacturer in order to drive digital with a hand in manufacture right through to programming.

At the beginning of next year, Digital One is to reveal the details of its £20 million marketing push. The group is also going to advertise in the trade for broadcasters which could provide services for its all night dance show, the soft adult contemporary station and the plays, books and comedy programmes (see RA Receives One Application For National Digital Multiplex). The latter has apparently stimulated a lot of interest from programme producers.

Radio Authority: 0171 405 7058 GWR Group: 0171 284 3000