The DRDB (Digital Radio Development Bureau) produces a monthly news bulletin designed to keep all those in the DAB digital radio chain informed and updated on the latest developments in the industry.
Product News
Sharp Launches First DAB Radio
Sharp has launched its first portable DAB digital radio in the slimline shape of the FV-DB1E.
With a high-gloss white or silver grille fascia, ultra-modern lines and large LCD display, the FV-DB1E incorporates an FM tuner to pick up stations which aren’t broadcast on DAB.
The FV-DB1E weighs 1.6kg*, being mains or battery powered and with an integral carry handle.
The radio’s DAB and FM tuner has 20 station presets which can be easily selected via the buttons on the top edge of the unit, and most other functions can be accessed from the front control panel beneath the blue backlit LCD screen. The FV-DB1E has an optical digital output terminal so radio can be recorded digitally to preserve sound quality plus a line out to allow DAB radio to be output via a separate sound system if required.
The FV-DB1E is available from leading UK consumer electronics retailers and department stores.
www.sharp.co.uk
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PURE Ship The Bug
PURE Digital and design guru Wayne Hemingway launched a DAB digital radio with striking looks and advanced features including MP3 playback and ReVu(tm), which lets users pause, rewind and record live radio. Key features
www.thebug.com
DAB coverage
Since the last newsletter the BBC has switched on four new transmitters delivering its national DAB radio stations around the country, and achieving an 80% population coverage level.
The BBC continues to extend its transmitter network and will reach 85% coverage later this year.
PrimeTime Radio Wins Sony Radio Award
National commercial DAB digital radio station, PrimeTime Radio, was named ‘Station of the Year’ in the digital terrestrial award category, at this year’s Sony Radio Awards. PrimeTime Radio is Saga’s national digital radio station.
The growing importance of the DAB digital radio market was further highlighted at the Awards ceremony by the sponsors, Sony. The company showed a demonstration model of its new DAB digital radio product, which it is expected to launch later this year.
DAB at the Motor Show
DAB was at the Sunday Times Motor Show Live in Birmingham this year demonstrating the latest in-car entertainment choice – Digital Radio.
Opel/Vauxhall, GM Daewoo, TVR and Rover models were on show, featuring DAB technology inside.
Top ICE manufacturer JVC wass also on hand with its new EXAD range of DAB radios, including the KD-LXH601. With integrated DAB tuner, the unit also plays CD, CD-R and CD-RW as well as MP3 and WMA files. JVC has a number of packages, including a range of CD-Receivers with add-on DAB.
DAB Digital Radio at the Motor Show was supported by NTL, the UK’s leading commercial radio transmission provider, and by The World DAB Forum, an international organisation whose role is to promote the awareness, adoption and implementation of DAB Digital Radio worldwide.
Market data gathered from several thousand stand visitors will be available later this year.
Text for Choice
The digital radio industry has launched a new text service to allow consumers to check coverage.
Text the word DAB followed by your postcode to 87220 and in seconds you’ll receive a text back telling you how many stations you can receive.
Calls cost 25p per text plus your network’s text charge.
Provided by Virgin Radio New Media
Capital/Hutchison deal for Xfm branded radio
Capital Radio plc and i.Tech Dynamic Ltd. (“i.Tech”), part of Hutchison Harbour Ring Ltd. (a member of the Hutchison Whampoa Group) have joined together to develop the UK DAB digital radio market .
The project sees Capital Radio plc establish a licensing and marketing partnership with i.Tech’s investment in the development of a high-specification, Xfm branded DAB radio set for Christmas 2004 backed with a national campaign targeted at 15-35 year olds.
Joint activity will include the design, manufacture and marketing of sets and will involve exploring ways of using DAB technology to create value from premium content, new forms of advertising and one-to-one relationships with listeners. The DAB radio sets will incorporate the latest DAB technology including MP3 and a “rewind” facility, and will be co-designed and branded by Capital Radio and manufactured in the Far East by i.Tech.
Eureca Research Forecasts
Eureca Research forecasts 40 million digital radio receivers in Europe by 2010
UK will account for 17.5 million or 44% of European total.
2003 turned out to be a watershed year for DAB in the United Kingdom. Success in the UK market is changing European broadcasters’ perceptions about the future of DAB as a pan-European radio standard. Eureca’s 2004 DAB survey revealed positive developments in several European countries. Issues such as the lack of affordable receivers are gradually being resolved and portable receivers are now beginning to reach markets in continental Europe. The company believes that 2004 could be a decisive year for DAB in continental Europe as spectrum and regulatory issues are finally addressed and as some of the biggest consumer electronics companies launch DAB receivers.
Eureca found that the introduction of new digital radio platforms and devices are changing the way people listen to radio with an increase in digital radio listening on multi-channel TV. Driven by the introduction of new digital-only content and the availability of low-cost digital set-top boxes, more than 10 million people listen every week to radio via the TV in the UK and this will continue to increase.
Eureca Research forecasts that the installed base of DAB receivers in Europe will increase from around 512,000 at the end of 2003 to 39.55 million at the end of 2010 representing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 86.1 per cent. The UK market will account for approximately 17.5 million or 44.2 per cent of the total installed base by the end of 2010.
Eureca also forecasts that the market value of DAB products will increase at a CAGR of 40 per cent in the period 2004-2010 and will represent a €1.31 billion (£875.7 million) market opportunity for receiver manufacturers in 2010.
www.eureca-research.com
Technology News
Frontier Silicon ships Logie
Frontier Silicon has started shipping in volume the world’s first combined DVB-T and DAB system-on-chip device this month - The Logie integrated circuit.
Manufacturer, Goodmans, is now delivering the world’s first combination digital TV and digital radio set top box product using Frontier’s Logie chip.
The Logie integrated circuit (IC) developed by Frontier Silicon enables a low cost set top box which can allow users to receive all available Freeview digital television channels and DAB digital radio channels from just one unit. The first product to feature the Logie device is a set top box produced by the leading consumer electrical electronics manufacturer Goodmans.
www.frontier-silicon.com
Investment for Frontier Silicon
Frontier Silicon has closed an investment of several million pounds from Nokia Venture Partners.
The new funding will allow Frontier Silicon to further develop its market-leading products for DAB digital radio and digital television and strengthen its development team.
www.frontier-silicon.com
RadioScape supplies DMB equipment
RadioScape has shipped more than fifteen DAB/DMB evaluation systems to Korea for use by leading companies and research institutes to allow them to develop and plan Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) networks and receiver products.
The company was at the Korean International Broadcast Show in Seoul with its Korean distributor Dizipia demonstrating this equipment along with new products to help the roll out of DMB in Korea.
The DMB systems are based on the same RadioScape technology that has been used in the UK for the deployment of the world’s largest DAB audio and data network involving over forty, fully-redundant, multiplexer systems.
RadioScape is currently undertaking field trials with WorldDAB to determine the required field strength for high performance DMB networks.
Digital Listening Figures
The trend towards digital listening to radio stations continues to grow with healthy increases in both commercial and BBC figures according to RAJAR figures released in May.
There were gains in weekly reach for all the BBC’s new digital only stations with BBC7 seeing an increase of 49% quarter-on-quarter to 398,000, 5 Live Sports Extra gaining 44% to 369,000, 6 Music up 21% to 187,000 and 1Xtra up 6% to 263,000, all quarter-on-quarter.
Commercial digital radio stations also did well, with the biggest increase coming for Emap’s Heat which saw its weekly reach grow by 172% to 158,000. Another Emap digital station, Kerrang! won a 7% gain, with a reach of 775,000.
Other winners for the commercial sector include Chrysalis station, The Arrow, up 38% to 33,000. GWR’s stable of digital offerings also did well with national stations Core and Planet Rock both seeing increases quarter-on-quarter up by 32% (to 129,000) and 22% (to 242,000) respectively. GWR’s local digital rock station The Storm also saw gains this quarter, up by 36% to 101,000.
National station Oneword, a former Sony Award winner, had its highest reach since it began reporting on Rajar, with a 19% increase quarter-on-quarter, to 76,000.
Analogue favourites also broadcasting on DAB include Capital Radio’s Xfm, which claimed 119,000 digital listeners outside its London analogue base; Emap’s Kiss, which claimed 906,000 digital only listeners outside London; and GMG’s Jazz FM with 362,000 digital only listeners.
Research shows that the chief reason for buying a DAB digital radio is to receive new, digital only stations.
ENDS
June 10, 2004
The Digital Radio Development Bureau is funded and supported by BBC, Digital One, Emap Digital Radio, CE Digital, MXR, Capital Digital and Now-Digital. The DRDB's task is to ensure digital radio's wide accessibility and swift adoption in the UK with consistent and effective marketing.
Visit the DRDB's consumer web site www.digitalradionow.com, or our Business to Business site, www.drdb.org.
If you have any news you would like included in the next DRDB news bulletin, please email mandy@drdb.org
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Mandy Green
Press and Publicity Manager
DRDB
The Radiocentre
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