Global chief urges ministers to set digital switchover date
Global Radio’s chief executive has urged the government to set a date for the radio digital switchover and back the industry in Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report.
Speaking at the Radio Reborn conference in London today, Stephen Miron said the industry had been “too slow to embrace change” and called on the Lord Carter to focus on digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio in his final report, which is due to be published this summer.
“Digital Britain has made us focus our minds,” Miron said. “Now the government must focus theirs.
“We have embarked on a clear path to digital – to DAB – and we need to make serious progress and do it quickly. This means naming a date for migration, with a transparent set of criteria for all the relevant parties to meet.
“Only that certainty will give us the leverage to get the car-makers, the set manufacturers, the multiplexes – and many others – on board. Whatever the date, and we personally believe the earlier the better – a firm date needs to be set.”
In the interim Digital Britain report, the government committed itself to DAB radio and said it would be a “primary distribution network” for radio.
However, the report failed to address the issue of analogue radio switch-off, saying there was no reason why analogue and digital could not exist together.
Miron said: “Lord Carter has been a huge advocate of radio and deserves praise for delivering a positive vision for our sector.
“But as his team work away on the next draft of the Digital Britain report I want to send them a clear message. We back digital, and we back the strategy but we cannot afford to get this wrong. The next draft [of Digital Britain] needs to be bolder.”
“The future of our sector is intrinsically linked to the successful implementation of the government’s digital strategy and to the successful migration to DAB.
“There is a huge opportunity for us all to come together to back this plan in a way that is unprecedented in our sector. You’ve heard the start of it today in our joint announcement with the BBC, but we need more of this in the coming weeks and months. Not just words, but action.”
Earlier today, the BBC and representatives from commercial radio, including Global, announced plans to establish a Radio Council, which will aim to bring the industry together to secure the future of digital radio (see BBC and commercial radio announce new digital partnership).
Speaking about the joint venture, the BBC’s Tim Davie, who will also chair the new council, said: “The partnership between the BBC and Commercial Radio is crucial to the future of the medium. Radio is unique and much-loved, but the media environment is changing and we have to work together to make sure it remains as popular and relevant as ever.”
Global’s Ashley Tabor added: “Global Radio fully endorses the formation of the Radio Council at this critical period in the drive to digital.
“It is absolutely right that the BBC recognises, as it did with TV, the need to work collaboratively and in partnership with the commercial sector. We appreciate the significant contribution the BBC has the capacity to make to facilitate Digital Britain from a radio perspective, and Global Radio is prepared to play a leading role alongside the BBC, GMG, Bauer and all our other colleagues in commercial radio, to make it happen.”
In the latest RAJAR release, for Q4 2008, DAB enjoyed a rise in listening house – up from 114 million hours to 116 million period on period (see DAB enjoys rise in listening hours).
DAB radio also increased its share of listening on digital platforms, from an 11.3% share in Q3 to an 11.4% share over the same period.
In what was a good quarter for digital radio, DAB’s weekly reach rose 1.1 percentage points period on period to 18.9% as well, while ownership of DAB sets was up one percentage point period on period, to 29.7%.