National DAB Idea
Here is a simple alternative way of looking at national DAB coverage suggested at the Digital Radio Now conference in London recently.Everyone expects that any national radio service currently available to 95%+ of the population should also be available on DAB to 95%+ of the population. This is as it should be but does it mean that to accommodate public and commercial broadcasters that we establish two expensive national mulitplexes with that kind of coverage? The suggestion from London is no.
Why not have one national mulitplex carrying all the current national FM broadcasters from RTE to Newstalk and Today FM. This “super mux” will cover 95% or more of the country. The second mux would then be a quasi-national reaching 80% of the population and carrying new DAB services such as All 80s, Mocha, RTE Choice, Junior etc etc
The result is no listener will be without their current favourite stations and the vast majority of listeners will enjoy a stack of brand new stations. The industry itself saves money by not having to double up on such expensive coverage with two mux systems and the current FM brand leaders maintain their advantage of full national coverage.
Just an idea!
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