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
- UK based Cambridge Audio has announced the launch of a new DAB hi-fi tuner, the DAB300. Using Frontier Silicon's FS2020 module, this Band III, DAB only tuner is available in the UK from early November at a price point of £150. It is for sale exclusively from Richer Sounds' 50 stores throughout the country. www.cambridgeaudio.co.uk
- ELANsat Technologies Inc is a new player in the DAB receiver market. The Taiwanese company has announced two new products both of which were on display (non-working models) at the IBC in Amsterdam this month. ELANsat is partnered with Texas Instruments in the development of a new pocket DAB receiver and a portable DAB radio and offers a variety of DAB solutions for the OEM. www.elansat.com
- Another company based in Taiwan, GyroSignal Technology, has also announced three DAB receivers module using the Texas Instruments DRE200 digital baseband chip. GyroSignal offers flexible, low-cost, low-power, mass-produced DAB solutions.
GyroSignal's Gyro-1111DAB receiver module is the first to successfully decode a Chinese character set. This allows a live DLS message to be displayed in Chinese and is good news for the DAB market in China. www.gyrosignal.com - PURE Digital's newest tuner, the DRX-701ES, has won the Product of the Year award in the tuner category of the What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision Awards 2002, beating all other tuners, both analogue and digital. This is the second year in a row that PURE Digital has won this prize. Last year's winner, as VideoLogic, was the DRX-601ES. www.pure-digital.com
A new report from Pricewaterhouse Coopers says that globally the Entertainment and Media Industries will continue to grow. Last year's turnover was US$1 trillion, and spending is expected to top US$1.4 trillion in 2006, though growth will be slow until the end of 2003.
The greatest driver of new entertainment and media spending in 2005-2006 will be digital distribution of content, aided by rising broadband penetration. The report says that globally, digital broadcasting will increase radio audiences and advertising, with consolidation making it easier for advertisers to buy both media. The market will grow from US$46 billion in 2001 to US$59 billion in 2006.
Digital radio press stories for the year to date in the UK have passed the 1,000 mark.
New Services
The newest digital only radio station to launch in the UK is Passion for the Planet, which went live in London on September 10, and will roll out to local multiplexes around the country later this year. Playing a blend of world music and English language hits, this unique radio station focuses on health and environmental issues, without being preachy and, as one national journalist reports, "brings welcome ethics into music broadcasting." www.passionfortheplanet.com
Marketing News
- With the EVOKE-1 £99 radios flying off the shelves as fast as PURE Digital can ship them to retailers, the DRDB has pulled the drive-to-buy advertising campaign planned for September. Most of the tens of thousands of radios earmarked for shipment over the next few months are already pre-sold by retailers, and rather than risk disappointing consumers, it was decided not to run the ads this month. As more and different product rolls out through October, November and December, the DRDB will look at running a generic DAB campaign on local and national commercial radio stations in the UK. With the product range increasing all the time, it is important that consumers not only understand the benefits of digital radio, but also grow confident in the affordable availability of that product. The new campaign, while not product or retailer specific, will achieve these goals.
- Point of sale material supporting the EVOKE-1 radio, and region specific leaflets highlighting what stations are available in any given area have been distributed to more than 200 retailers around the UK.
- "Digital radio for the family" is the theme of an advertorial in a special technology supplement in the Mail on Sunday (September 22). Paid for and written by the DRDB, the advertorial consists of a full page of text featuring pictures of the Blaupunkt Woodstock DAB52, the EVOKE-1 and the acoustic Solutions SP110 tuner. There's also a fact file with some of the benefits of DAB, and a competition highlighting station choice.
- National digital radio operator, Digital One, is running a consumer promotion with 174 retailers around the UK. Customers can win £3,000 worth of consumer electronics, and the retailer generating the winning customer will also win £1,000. Free POS and leaflets support the promotion, which runs until January 2003.
- Regional multiplex operator, MXR, have run a successful reader offer in the Radio Times listings magazine, resulting in the sale of 500 EVOKE-1 radios.
A report commissioned by WorldDAB, the international body representing the interests of Eureka 147, concludes that valuable L-Band spectrum in Europe should be earmarked for Terrestrial Digital Radio, at least until Satellite Digital Radio in Europe is launched in 2005, as expected.
The report examines how two digital radio transmission formats, T-DAB and Satellite Digital Radio (SDR), both complement and compete with each other in Europe. The report concludes that:
- T-DAB is an improvement on present analogue radio and seems likely to provide mobile and substantially free-to-air audio and data services, while SDR proposes a novel type of content likely to offer personalised music and data subscription services. The two systems are therefore not mutually exclusive.
- Satellite Digital Radio (SDR) should not be considered as a replacement transmission system for today's analogue radio or DAB broadcasting
- On the question of whether remaining spectrum in L-band should be allocated to new SDR broadcasters, it is clear that the marketing success of T-DAB in Europe will be decided in the next few years and SDR should therefore not be given general priority over T-DAB before its launch in 2005.
- While some competition between the two technologies is to be expected, given adequate spectrum, T-DAB will happily co-exist with the proposed SDR system. Members of WorldDAB can view the report at www.worlddab.org
At the IBC in Amsterdam last week, digital radio had its own Supersession - a day long conference titled "Survival kit for the digital age". The conference was well attended by all elements of the digital radio chain including international broadcasters, hardware and software technologists, trade bodies and marketers.
The overall tone of the day from all quarters was one of optimism. Competitive digital technologies, such as IBOC and satellite, were not seen as an immediate threat to Eureka 147, and it was estimated that within five years 50% of the European radio markets will be digital, turning DAB into a profitable enterprise for all concerned.
For more information email mandy@drdb.org
ENDS
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.
If you have any news you would like included in the next DRDB news bulletin, please email mandy@drdb.org
If you do not wish to receive future copies of this news bulletin please email mandy@drdb.org
Mandy Green
Press and Publicity Manager
DRDB
The Radiocentre
77 Shaftesbury Avenue
London W1D 5DU
020 7306 2636
07973 184995