The Future of Radio
In June 2009, the UK Government published its Digital Britain Report, which lays out the requirements for a country living and working in the digital age. Specifically for radio, this means the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting. In this context, Ipsos MediaCT looked at the implications of the Government's forecasts and the barriers to be overcome to ensure success.
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Digital Britain has stipulated that all national radio, which currently accounts for around 3 in 5 of all listening hours, will be digital only by 2015. However, FM analogue broadcasting will not disappear, and will allow local and community-based stations who have no DAB presence to broadcast.
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The target date to deliver the upgrade from FM to DAB and from Medium Wave to FM is 2015. The trigger date for this is 2013, two years earlier, when it is hoped that digital will account for at least 50% of all UK radio listening hours.
