Digital Needs Fresh Content

Are U.S. broadcasters taking note?
The apparent message of an event in Brussels recently was that offering new content is key if broadcasters are to succeed in DAB.
Currently, the lack of additional features – and the associated little differentiation between analog and digital content – reduces consumer interest in buying digital receivers, participants said.
Approximately 100 delegates from 15 nations gathered for the one-day workshop on the content opportunities of digital radio, Eureka-147 style. The event was organized by the WorldDAB Forum and the European Broadcasting Union.
The enthusiasm of U.K. radio broadcasters, led by Digital One and the BBC, contrasted with reluctant German commercially funded stations, which seem unconvinced that moving to digital services will bring tangible benefits.
Hans-Dieter Hillmoth, director of Hit Radio FFH in Frankfurt am Main and vice-president of the AER, said the German market is too uncertain for commercial stations to invest heavily in DAB.