Digital radio in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the roll-out of digital radio has been proceeding since engineering test transmissions were started by the BBC in 1990 followed by a public launch in September 1995.
[citation needed] The Broadcasting Act of 1996 allowed the introduction of national, regional and local commercial ensembles in the United Kingdom.
The BBC carried out successful tests of a single-frequency network in London before launching its national DAB ensemble.
[22] DAB audibly, in some cases, provides worse audio quality than FM – perhaps due to greed of Multiplex Operators wishing to create more services within the same bandwidth; by using very low bitrates.
Many internet radio streams also use low bitrates but with MP3 rather than MP2 – providing better audio quality at the same reduced bandwidth (bit rate).
report stating that stores contain a steel structure which produce a Faraday cage effect where DAB signals are blocked out.
Commercial radio executives have argued that the BBC should pick up the majority of the cost of expanding the DAB network across the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom Government had previously ruled out any transition from DAB to DAB+ for the foreseeable future, a decision backed by the radio industry and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
[28] The chief executive of the DRDB, Tony Moretta, mirrored the calls by the radio industry and experts not to adopt DAB+ in the UK.
[29][30] Independent radio analyst Grant Goddard also stated that there was an economic decision not to adopt DAB+ for both the industry and consumers.
[28] Despite opposition aired to the government regarding the introduction of DAB+ in the United Kingdom by the industry and experts, Ofcom began testing DAB+ on the Brighton Experimental ensemble in January 2013 for a period of one month.
DAB radio stations in the United Kingdom are broadcast on a number of frequency blocks on VHF Band III.
However, as part of its Review of Radio, Ofcom has expanded the frequency allocations for DAB and has advertised local and a national ensemble licence on blocks outside the original Wiesbaden plan on 10B to 10D and 11A.
[45] sub-band The frequency plan and usage of DAB for the crown dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are co-ordinated and administered by the United Kingdom's media regulator Ofcom.
[49] The BBC's national DAB ensemble broadcasts on frequency block 12B (225.648 MHz) across the United Kingdom,[50] with coverage currently at 96.4% of UK households.
From what began with ten trial multiplexes (London, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol, Portsmouth, Norwich, Brighton, Cambridge and Aldershot) with initially a nine-month trial, extended to March 2020 by Ofcom at the request of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
[65] From the latter half of the 2010s, smart speakers have increased in popularity as a device for listening to live and on demand digital radio services.
The trial broadcast BBC Radio Devon using the new technology in the Plymouth area from April 2007[81] and closed down on 31 October 2008.
[86] The trial assessed the reception qualities of both technologies in urban and rural areas as well as the mobile television and radio services which could be delivered.
[87] There was an ongoing experimental DMB multiplex broadcast in London on L-Band and Cambridge on VHF Band III, used for video, audio and data applications which have since ceased.
[94] Ofcom advertises the licences of new digital radio ensembles and are subject to an open competition to the highest bidder.
[112] Areas covered are as follows: As part of the Digital Economy Act 2010 which gained Royal Assent and became law on 8 April.
Digital Radio UK stated that the released frequencies of the closed regional multiplexes would be reused for local DAB coverage roll-out.
[123] On 1 July 2014, Ofcom re-advertised the second national ensemble licence on frequency 11A for interested parties to submit applications by 31 October 2014.
[140] The list of proposed radio stations submitted to Ofcom were as follows:[135][141][142] After experimentation on the Brighton experimental ensemble, Ofcom advertised for small scale DAB multiplexes[43][143] to broadcast across the United Kingdom on ten localised multiplexes for a nine-month trial period,[144] then extended for an extra two years[145] and then until December 2021.
[53] The trials were intended to test the viability of using free and open source software (FOSS) with low cost equipment[146] to broadcast from a single transmitter, a single frequency network or channel repeaters to allow smaller radio stations to broadcast more cost effectively than is currently possible on local multiplexes.
[147] In September 2016, Ofcom released its final report into the experiences and results of the small scale DAB trials[148] deeming them to be successful and technically sound.
A number of conclusions were made regarding the trials: A future roll-out of small scale DAB multiplexes would be performed with a number of DAB frequency blocks, subject to business users migrating away from those frequencies and also subject to Parliamentary approval through the Broadcasting (Radio Multiplex Services) Bill 2016–17 which gained royal assent on 27 April 2017.
[153] Small scale DAB multiplex licenses are grouped into rounds with the first covering the test services already established and some large cities.
[154] In October 2023, UK DAB Networks one of the operators of SSDAB multiplexes started proceedings for Voluntary Liquidation.
