HAMBURG, Germany � Until recently, there was a clear division in Germany in terms of DAB+ radio. While most regional and local commercial radio stations in southern Germany transmitted on FM, and were available via the internet, and had for at least several years been available on DAB+, commercial stations in the north part of Germany were not available via DAB+ at all, according to radio.nl.
That geographical division is now being erased: Last September, RSH, the most popular station in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, started broadcasting via DAB + in the Hamburg region. RSH would like to broadcast in Schleswig-Holstein via digital terrestrial radio as well, but as of yet no opportunities have become available.� For that reason they diverted resources to the regional network of Hamburg (which also covers the southern part of Schleswig-Holstein).
Today, with the regional public broadcaster NDR, and the national public and commercial stations, a total of 32 radio stations can be received in Hamburg via DAB+.� Of these, 20 were not available previously, due to lack of capacity in the VHF FM system.
In Germany, one in seven people over the age of 14 now have access to a DAB+ capable receiver, according to radioszene.de. The consumer electronics market declined slightly last year, but still DAB+ receiver sales reported a 21% increase year to year, to just under 1.2 million units. Over 21 percent of the new vehicles from German manufacturers were equipped with digital radios in the past year, up considerably from the previous year, when the figure was 14%.
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