LONDON � In the UK, transmission services provider Arqiva continues to deliver strong financial results due, to a large extent, its terrestrial broadcasting business. The expansion of Britain�s DAB radio network has made for an 8.8% revenue increase in the sector.
The UK national DAB network now covers more than 97% of the population, while local commercial radio reaches 91%, according to broadbandtvnews.com.
�In Switzerland, for safety and comfort reasons, all the tunnels of national roadways will be upgraded to provide coverage of DAB+ networks. Some tunnels are already �lit� with DAB+ RF, including the tunnels of the city highway St. Gallen, the two tunnels in Schaffhausen, and the entire western bypass for Zurich.�The remaining tunnels of ASTRA’s Winterthur branch will be equipped with DAB + by the end of summer of 2018, reports zueriost.ch. Switzerland anticipates turning off FM transmitters between 2020 and 2014.
In Latvia, the National Electronic Media Council of Latvia evaluated the results of the DAB + standard tests, carried out in the region of Riga by the State Radio and Television Center of Latvia in November 2016 and decided not to continue this testing, nor to support the introduction of digital radio via that standard.
NEPLP pointed out several reasons, including the long-term effectiveness of the broadcasting standard in question; the benefits to society of the costs of implementing this standard; and, the potential impact on Latvian broadcasters and the advertising market. “Latvia is one of the few countries in the World [that] has successfully managed to implement a wide range of internet coverage now, and there is also targeted preparation for the introduction of both 5G mobile internet and broadband internet.�The already-available internet technologies enable the development of various types of audio channels and content products for radio stations, while the introduction of the DAB+ standard will require millions of euros in investment from taxpayers’ money, and will oblige consumers to replace radio receivers,� explains Patrick Gray, a member of NEPLP, from neplpadome.lv.
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