Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to support new FM licences for radio stations in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The growth and development of digital radio and changes in listener behaviour have resulted in a clear shift away from analogue listening – digital listening now accounts for 74% of all radio listening (RAJAR Q3 2024). Although AM/FM platforms remain important for smaller commercial and community stations, significant numbers of listeners are migrating to digital platforms.

The licensing of AM/FM radio services is a matter for Ofcom, and in October Ofcom set out its current approach to licensing in a progress report on the rollout of small-scale DAB (SSDAB) technology. This report set out Ofcom’s current view that SSDAB offers audiences a wider range of services and makes a more efficient use of spectrum than FM, and committed to at least two further rounds of SSDAB licensing before considering the possibility of any further analogue licensing in the future.