Emap Proposes Subsidised Digital Radio

Leicester could become a testbed for subsidised digital radio if Emap’s application to the Radio Authority for the local digital radio licence is accepted. The company proposes making digital radio sets available for £49 if the bid, its first in an area where it does not run the local incumbent analogue radio service, is successful.

Shaun Gregory, director of development of Emap Performance and MD of Emap Digital Radio, said: “We are keen to expand out of our digital heartland and make digital radio happen. Emap is prepared to fund initiatives to grow digital radio and see it as the multiplex operator’s responsibility to find new ways to ensure take up of what it the next step in radio.”

The Leicester area licence is expected to reach a potential audience of around 670,000. At present, the lowest priced home radio set retails around the £300 mark and Emap therefore expects this initiative to cost a minimum of £250,000 to set up. The company is said to be in talks with the Digital Radio Development Board (DRDB) to agree terms with a manufacturer.

Digital radio appears to have attracted the enthusiasm of the UK’s major radio owners, who have been happy enough to bid for licences and form consortia for multiplex applications. The cost of digital radio equipment is thought to be the major stumbling block affecting the progress of uptake by consumers. An erroneous suggestion earlier this year that sets could be available at the marginally more acceptable price of less than £100 in time for Christmas was rebuffed by the DRDB, which says it is more likely to happen next year.

The closing date for applications for the Leicester licence was Tuesday this week. The Radio Authority received two applications, one from Emap and the other from the Now Digital consortium, whose members include Chrysalis and Capital Radio. A decision on the awarding of the licence is expected early in the New Year.

Emap: 01733 568 900 www.emap.co.uk Radio Authority: 020 7430 2724 www.radioauthority.org.uk

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