Massive development for DAB this week with the launch of DAB+ in Germany.
Germany is by far the largest radio market in Europe and one of the biggest in the world. Adopting DAB+ is a huge endorsement of the technology, and if it takes off in Germany, it’s not unreasonable to expect the rest of Europe to follow.
A key factor is the involvement of commercial radio. Until now, the only national German networks have been public service broadcasters. This launch of DAB gives commercial broadcasters a national platform for the first …

Commercial operators across Europe are just as keen as public broadcasters to see DAB arrive, and being commercially minded, they’re making it happen!
That was the loud and clear message at the Euro DAB conference for commercial broadcasters hosted by the WorldDMB organisation in Paris on March2nd.
Recent milestone developments include Germany’s big launch of DAB+ in August and Norway’s commitment to turn off FM in eight years time – fact.
Germany
Boris Lochtghofen, from Regiocast Germany, announced that DAB+ will begin full commercial service on August 1st. DAB has previously been on-air in …

The beginning of a new year is a good time to look at what’s in store for DAB over the coming months.
The downturn in the economy has unsurprisingly put the brakes on investment in DAB across Europe. However it has not prevented many countries from considering how they will implement digital broadcasting as the economy picks up again.
Ireland
The BAI are due to publish a white paper on how digital broadcasting will progress in Ireland. It’s widely expected they will establish DAB in line with new FM licences due for renewal …

Another key milestone in the roll-out of digital radio is the agreement today from motor manufacturers to install DAB receivers in cars from 2014.
This fits very well with UK and French targets for digital broadcasting with both countries having key digital dates around 2015.
Up to now car manufacturers have been reluctant to install DAB radios due to conflicting standards across Europe. However, now the WorldDAB standard has been established, a single €10 chipset can handle all these different types of signal. This means a digital radio set will work equally …