The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
Radio is an important part of our cultural and media landscape—over 90% of the population consumes over a billion hours of radio a week.
The previous Government set the objective of a consumer-led transition from analogue to digital in its “Digital Britain” White Paper, and lay the foundations for that switchover with the Digital Economy Act. However, it was made clear that final decisions for a switchover would only be taken when existing FM coverage was replicated on DAB networks and 50% of all radio listening is digital.
This Government endorsed this approach, recognising that digital offers the capacity for many more radio stations, providing consumers with a greater choice of content, and increasing opportunities for the sector to develop new revenue streams. In 2010, we launched the digital radio action plan to inject momentum, and encourage industry to work together to identify and resolve issues in advance of a switchover.
As a result of the concerted action of our partners through the digital radio action plan, much has been achieved since 2010:
the BBC’s national DAB network is now at 94%; the national commercial network is now at 89% (including the recent launch of commercial services for the first time in Northern Ireland), and the local DAB network is over 70%;
digital radio listening has increased from 21.1% in 2009 to 35.6% now and around 45% of households have at least one DAB set;
41.6% of new cars sold in October had DAB radios fitted as standard, up from just 4.4% in 2010;
industry has developed a minimum specification for a DAB radio certification scheme and a car installer scheme has also been developed with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
However, in spite of recent progress, the current rate of digital listening has not yet reached 40%. We have always been clear that the switch to digital must be consumer-led rather than Government imposed. Therefore, we do not believe that now is the time to commit to a switchover.
Nonetheless, we want to maintain the positive industry action to promote digital listening, because we know that consumers like the clearer sound and ease of tuning, not to mention the wide range of content offered.
Today, I have therefore announced the following:
There will be up to £21 million of new investment from the BBC, Government and commercial radio to build out digital radio coverage, so more homes can receive it;
Government will fund Ofcom to develop ways for smaller radio stations to go digital;
Ofcom is seeking expressions of interest to build and run a second national commercial multiplex in the new year to allow new national commercial radio stations to launch;
Ofcom is launching a review of music format rules for commercial radio, with a view to giving industry greater freedom to adapt to changing consumer tastes;
A new partnership will be formed between Digital Radio UK and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency as well as the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to provide people with information on upgrading their car radio to digital;
That Digital Radio UK are planning to set a new digital certification mark scheme in 2014, which will be attached to all digital radios that meet a minimum technical specification and performance standards developed by industry;
Digital Radio UK will work with industry on an approved installer scheme so drivers can be confident when choosing someone to install a digital radio in their car.