COPENHAGEN — There’s more talk in the government of Denmark about the possible “sunsetting” of the VHF FM band in that country.
[Read more about Denmark’s 2017 efforts in this area.]
Now, the Danish Ministry of Culture is trying to accelerate the pace of the transition.
A strategy paper from the Ministry presented at the beginning of April outlines two scenarios: VHF FMs should be switched off two years after it has been determined that the 50% listening threshold has been exceeded (it is currently at 36%). And, even if the threshold is not reached by 2021, the country should off VHF and go to DAB + anyway.
The trouble is that there’s not enough political support for such a move, according to radiowoche.de. The ruling liberal-conservative three-party coalition does not have its own majority in parliament and needs cooperation from other parties; it have to put forward its proposed plans in the media sector up for discussion and then convince either the right-wing conservative People’s Party or the Social Democrats and get their votes. Representatives of the People’s Party have already announced their rejection of a premature VHF exit in the Danish media.
A survey conducted for the Danish news agency Ritzau revealed that 70% of respondents are opposed to the sunsetting of premature VHF FM by 2021.
Also not very enthusiastic about the new government plans are a number of newspaper publishers operating various regional and local stations, according to the same article.
