A 'Digital Two' possibility? Your thoughts welcome...
SonOfPurple
Posts: 2,653 Forum Member
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I've been thinking about what may make it onto the upcoming "Digital 2" national multiplex, and put together a plausible (I think) lineup. It's mostly based on expanding existing networks to increase the choice and range of services available nationally. I've tried to ensure a range of formats and genres are represented and a variety of age and social groups served.
I've also 'migrated' two stations currently on Digital One which in turn would reduce pressure on that currently-crowded multiplex, as detailed below. Movement of services currently carried on local multiplexes to D2 would also allow new services to be delivered at local/region level, particularly in London.
I've based assumptions of available capacity for radio and data services on the current total D1 bitrates (as per Wohnort) and assumed that all broadcast radio services will use standard DAB rather than DAB+ to reach the installed userbase. I've tried to ensure that bitrates I've given services are equal to or better than those on their existing multiplexes (The Wireless is currently 64k/s and Kerrang! currently 80k/s in London, for instance).
So, my 'Digital 2' lineup would consist of:
- Kiss (112k/s stereo) - migrated from D1. (Format: rhythmic; operator Bauer)
- Gold (112k/s stereo) (Format: oldies/classic hits; operator Global)
- Nation Radio (112k/s stereo) (Format: alternative/modern music; operator Town & Country)
- Real XS (112k/s stereo) (Format: adult rock; operator Communicorp)
- heat (80k/s mono) (Format: adult contemporary/showbiz; operator Bauer)
- Kerrang! (80k/s mono) (Format: young-skewing rock; operator Bauer)
- Jazz FM (80k/s mono) (Format: jazz/blues/funk; operator Jazz FM Investments)
- Juice (80k/s mono) (Format: contemporary & fresh/upbeat; operator UTV)
- Amazing Radio (64k/s mono) (Format: new & unsigned music; operator AmazingTunes)
- Fun Kids (64k/s mono) (Format: children's; operator Folder Media)
- Sunrise (64k/s mono) (Format: Asian; operator Sunrise)
- The Wireless (64k/s mono) (Format: over-50s; operator Age UK)
- LBC (64k/s mono) - migrated from D1 (Format: speech & news; operator Global)
with an 8k/s stream remaining for data/EPG services (if total bitrate is equivalent to D1.)
Gold has given over most of its local AM/DAB transmissions to Smooth but the service remains available on TV/online and could combine its remaining AM transmissions with a national digital platform.
Alternative music doesn't currently, outside, say 6Music, have a national station - Xfm is on some digital multiplexes and has been removed from some on which it was previously carried.
Nation and Amazing here would provide a voice for new and alternative music at UK level.
Real XS is currently not on DAB but the station has an older, male skew and would appeal to a distinct group of listeners.
heat would carry adult-contemporary music, alongside celebrity and entertainment content, for a young-adult female audience.
Although there are already a number of rock formats on national DAB, Kerrang! aims at a younger listener with an energetic, fresh rock format, which is distinct from the older audience targeted (particularly by Planet Rock and XS).
I wanted to put a national contemporary/fresh hits station on my D2 lineup - there hasn't been one since Core, and BBC Radio 1 currently has this market nationally (with Capital a local/regional service). With The Hits forming the backbone of [Place] 3 and Smash Hits gone, I've turned to Juice Liverpool to provide a service of fresh, cheeky, young entertainment with upbeat and current music.
The Wireless currently broadcasts locally to London. Moving to D2 would allow the station - which provides music and speech for an older audience - to reach far more of the population than it currently does, whilst still only paying for one DAB transmission.
Fun and Sunrise would provide the first regular national commercial provision of national DAB service to audiences not currently well-served by radio: Sunrise would provide a service of music and speech as sole national competition to BBC Asian Network, and Fun would provide a platform for radio specifically aimed at chlidren, a market which no other DAB station occupies and which even the BBC has moved away from over recent times.
Jazz FM and Amazing Radio have been provided on D1 before and appearing on D2 would restore the stations to national availability. Jazz is a genre which does not get a lot of representation on UK radio.
I've tried to ensure a diverse range of genres - rock, dance, jazz, AC, oldies - are represented, and that ages and genders are broadly covered - Kiss, Nation, Kerrang!, Juice and heat serving a younger audience and Gold, XS, Jazz FM, and Wireless offering an older skew. I've also tried to incoroprate stations which provide entertainment and chat elements - Real XS with male-skewing banter, heat with celebrity chatter, Juice with young-focused features, Wireless with magazine content for 50+, and so on.
There would be changes to existing local/regional multiplexes as a result of this layout: duplicated stations would be withdrawn from local multiplexes except where carrying local programme content.
If MuxCo were able to reach a deal with Global to do so, the slots on Chester/Wrexham DAB currently used for Nation Radio and Juice could instead be used for the local Capital (ex-Marcher, Heart) and Smooth (as AM) services.
Sunrise FM in Bradford would relabel its DAB transmission to 'Sunrise Bradford' (8-character shortcode 'SunriseB') to differentiate it from the national relay of Sunrise (London) here.
Bauer would retain the slots currently used by heat and Kerrang! on local-layer multiplexes outside London and use these slots to expand their other digital stations (in particular Absolute 70s and Kisstory).
The local news/ads drop-ins on Gold East Midlands would become AM-only, as they currently are in Manchester; the Gold DAB space in the East Midlands could be used to take Smooth Radio to stereo (with any remaining space released for new services - possibly leased to Orion to roll Free 80s out to the East Midlands as a sister station to Gem?)
The move of Kiss and LBC to D2 would vacate space on D1 which Global and Bauer currently hold; the firms would retain this space, however, to improve existing Bauer services and add one new Global service. The lineup on D1 after my D2 changes would be, with changes bolded:
- Classic FM (128k/s stereo) - no change
- Absolute Radio (112k/s stereo) - no change
- Capital Xtra (112 k/s stereo) - no change
- Magic (112 k/s stereo) - bitrate increase using portion of released space
- Absolute 80s (80k/s mono) - bitrate increase using portion of released space
- Chill (80k/s mono) - station added in remaining released space (format: chillout, operator: Global)
- BFBS (80k/s mono) - no change
- Planet Rock (80k/s mono) - no change
- Smooth Extra (80k/s mono) - no change
- TeamRock (80k/s mono) - no change
- Premier (64k/s mono) - no change
- UCB UK (64k/s mono) - no change
and data (24k/s total as per Wohnort) - no change
If Global wanted to launch a 'Heart Extra' service (which in my mind would be a Century-esque 80s/90s/00s music service, though your mileage - and Global's - may vary) on the back of the extant Smooth and Capital brand extensions, they could put it in the slot I've listed as Chill here on D1 and revert Chill to local level.
So do you think this one's got legs, then?
I've also 'migrated' two stations currently on Digital One which in turn would reduce pressure on that currently-crowded multiplex, as detailed below. Movement of services currently carried on local multiplexes to D2 would also allow new services to be delivered at local/region level, particularly in London.
I've based assumptions of available capacity for radio and data services on the current total D1 bitrates (as per Wohnort) and assumed that all broadcast radio services will use standard DAB rather than DAB+ to reach the installed userbase. I've tried to ensure that bitrates I've given services are equal to or better than those on their existing multiplexes (The Wireless is currently 64k/s and Kerrang! currently 80k/s in London, for instance).
So, my 'Digital 2' lineup would consist of:
- Kiss (112k/s stereo) - migrated from D1. (Format: rhythmic; operator Bauer)
- Gold (112k/s stereo) (Format: oldies/classic hits; operator Global)
- Nation Radio (112k/s stereo) (Format: alternative/modern music; operator Town & Country)
- Real XS (112k/s stereo) (Format: adult rock; operator Communicorp)
- heat (80k/s mono) (Format: adult contemporary/showbiz; operator Bauer)
- Kerrang! (80k/s mono) (Format: young-skewing rock; operator Bauer)
- Jazz FM (80k/s mono) (Format: jazz/blues/funk; operator Jazz FM Investments)
- Juice (80k/s mono) (Format: contemporary & fresh/upbeat; operator UTV)
- Amazing Radio (64k/s mono) (Format: new & unsigned music; operator AmazingTunes)
- Fun Kids (64k/s mono) (Format: children's; operator Folder Media)
- Sunrise (64k/s mono) (Format: Asian; operator Sunrise)
- The Wireless (64k/s mono) (Format: over-50s; operator Age UK)
- LBC (64k/s mono) - migrated from D1 (Format: speech & news; operator Global)
with an 8k/s stream remaining for data/EPG services (if total bitrate is equivalent to D1.)
Gold has given over most of its local AM/DAB transmissions to Smooth but the service remains available on TV/online and could combine its remaining AM transmissions with a national digital platform.
Alternative music doesn't currently, outside, say 6Music, have a national station - Xfm is on some digital multiplexes and has been removed from some on which it was previously carried.
Nation and Amazing here would provide a voice for new and alternative music at UK level.
Real XS is currently not on DAB but the station has an older, male skew and would appeal to a distinct group of listeners.
heat would carry adult-contemporary music, alongside celebrity and entertainment content, for a young-adult female audience.
Although there are already a number of rock formats on national DAB, Kerrang! aims at a younger listener with an energetic, fresh rock format, which is distinct from the older audience targeted (particularly by Planet Rock and XS).
I wanted to put a national contemporary/fresh hits station on my D2 lineup - there hasn't been one since Core, and BBC Radio 1 currently has this market nationally (with Capital a local/regional service). With The Hits forming the backbone of [Place] 3 and Smash Hits gone, I've turned to Juice Liverpool to provide a service of fresh, cheeky, young entertainment with upbeat and current music.
The Wireless currently broadcasts locally to London. Moving to D2 would allow the station - which provides music and speech for an older audience - to reach far more of the population than it currently does, whilst still only paying for one DAB transmission.
Fun and Sunrise would provide the first regular national commercial provision of national DAB service to audiences not currently well-served by radio: Sunrise would provide a service of music and speech as sole national competition to BBC Asian Network, and Fun would provide a platform for radio specifically aimed at chlidren, a market which no other DAB station occupies and which even the BBC has moved away from over recent times.
Jazz FM and Amazing Radio have been provided on D1 before and appearing on D2 would restore the stations to national availability. Jazz is a genre which does not get a lot of representation on UK radio.
I've tried to ensure a diverse range of genres - rock, dance, jazz, AC, oldies - are represented, and that ages and genders are broadly covered - Kiss, Nation, Kerrang!, Juice and heat serving a younger audience and Gold, XS, Jazz FM, and Wireless offering an older skew. I've also tried to incoroprate stations which provide entertainment and chat elements - Real XS with male-skewing banter, heat with celebrity chatter, Juice with young-focused features, Wireless with magazine content for 50+, and so on.
There would be changes to existing local/regional multiplexes as a result of this layout: duplicated stations would be withdrawn from local multiplexes except where carrying local programme content.
If MuxCo were able to reach a deal with Global to do so, the slots on Chester/Wrexham DAB currently used for Nation Radio and Juice could instead be used for the local Capital (ex-Marcher, Heart) and Smooth (as AM) services.
Sunrise FM in Bradford would relabel its DAB transmission to 'Sunrise Bradford' (8-character shortcode 'SunriseB') to differentiate it from the national relay of Sunrise (London) here.
Bauer would retain the slots currently used by heat and Kerrang! on local-layer multiplexes outside London and use these slots to expand their other digital stations (in particular Absolute 70s and Kisstory).
The local news/ads drop-ins on Gold East Midlands would become AM-only, as they currently are in Manchester; the Gold DAB space in the East Midlands could be used to take Smooth Radio to stereo (with any remaining space released for new services - possibly leased to Orion to roll Free 80s out to the East Midlands as a sister station to Gem?)
The move of Kiss and LBC to D2 would vacate space on D1 which Global and Bauer currently hold; the firms would retain this space, however, to improve existing Bauer services and add one new Global service. The lineup on D1 after my D2 changes would be, with changes bolded:
- Classic FM (128k/s stereo) - no change
- Absolute Radio (112k/s stereo) - no change
- Capital Xtra (112 k/s stereo) - no change
- Magic (112 k/s stereo) - bitrate increase using portion of released space
- Absolute 80s (80k/s mono) - bitrate increase using portion of released space
- Chill (80k/s mono) - station added in remaining released space (format: chillout, operator: Global)
- BFBS (80k/s mono) - no change
- Planet Rock (80k/s mono) - no change
- Smooth Extra (80k/s mono) - no change
- TeamRock (80k/s mono) - no change
- Premier (64k/s mono) - no change
- UCB UK (64k/s mono) - no change
and data (24k/s total as per Wohnort) - no change
If Global wanted to launch a 'Heart Extra' service (which in my mind would be a Century-esque 80s/90s/00s music service, though your mileage - and Global's - may vary) on the back of the extant Smooth and Capital brand extensions, they could put it in the slot I've listed as Chill here on D1 and revert Chill to local level.
So do you think this one's got legs, then?
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Comments
I think we may see a few (2 or 3) DAB+ services, possibly at low bitrates.
I would be surprised if Global launch Chill nationally unless they are using it to block something else from launching.
I expect Smooth Extra will replace Gold long term.
Jazz FM seem to be doing pretty much as well on just London DAB as they did on D1 so I don't know if they'll have the appetite to develop the service nationally again. LBC is in a similar position, so a move to D2 makes sense.
Not sure about Real XS or Nation having the resources to go national. Perhaps more of the religious stations will seize the opportunity eg. The various UCB variants.
Heart
Heart + 1
Heart 'Greatest Hits'
Heart 'Greatest Hits' + 1
Ad infinitum
Kiss will most likely migrate across, hopefully with a higher bit rate like it used to have on some local muxes. Kerrang is a strong possibility too! Wouldn't be surprised it Bauer took the opportunity to stick Kisstory in there too.
On another note, do we know yet if there are going to be any DAB+ stations on D2?
Surely if there were to be a D2 multiplex there should at least be a nod towards increased quality (say a 128kbps minimum for stereo) rather than yet more brand stations being heaped onto the mux, not really offering much more 'real' choice.
It would seem now that those who want to hear high quality sound on the radio should do so via the internet (for example, Radio 3's HD sound). I appreciate that DAB is probably more intended for reception on portables rather than hi-fi, but I think even a good portable shows deficiencies in stereo sound at bitrates below 128kbps.
It will be interesting to see if DAB+ is introduced - more and more sets on sale now can receive this. Of course, I fully expect broadcasters to reduce bitrates on this just like they did with the original DAB rather than go for quality, but there might be a few years of higher bitrates for us to enjoy to begin with!
http://www.channel4.com/radio/4digital/services.html
ch4 and the other shareholders are unlikely to relaunch it
The only possability is
6 months into the revised Talk Radio, guaranteed it will go the way of Citytalk - "Rock and Roll Mornings with Alan Brazil - music and right wing ranting with Al."
I suspect there's no chance. LBC has made little impact outside London. To set up a whole new Talk Radio service would seems to have little chance of success.
Overall, I too hope there will be more choice rather than higher bitrates. There's nothing wrong with DAB having a wide choice and Internet streaming being the home of (very) high quality streaming.
Short of only having 3 or 4 stations on the multiplex true audiophiles are unlikely to ever be happy with DAB / DAB+.
Regarding DAB+, I know that there are trials ongoing (including one involving Fun Kids) but the current installed userbase of DAB listening is for the large part to original-form DAB and I don't have privy knowledge of which stations would opt to go for the newer, more bitrate-friendly format over scale of coverage, so I just had everything in original-form DAB.
As for Smooth Extra/Gold, again I don't know what Global's long-term plans are - it depends how different Smooth Extra is in form from Gold - I'm anticipating SE as a more melodic, Magic-type station whilst Gold is a slightly more poppy/rockier oldies format. Again, ball's in Global's court.
Chill to D1? As I said at the butt-end of my original post, it's taking Global's chunk of capacity vacated by my shifting of Kiss and LBC across, and could hold the place until Tabor and team come up with a new format to spin out (a 90s-heavy 'Heart Extra' could fill the void left by Bauer's booting-off of Absolute 90s...)
XS and Nation may be smaller stations but they have formats which could work UK-wide - XS with its male-leaning rock and banter format and Nation with its focus on new and edgy music, which as I say is a genre which doesn't have much UK-wide coverage at present. XS seems to be motoring along well enough but doesn't have DAB coverage thanks to the crammed Manc mux. Perhaps Global could help with the infrastructure/support - there's still a connection it seems (XS taking part in Make Some Noise, for instance)...
Heart +1? Don't bloody give Global any ideas... Seriously though, a late 80s/90s/early 00s station, in the vogue of Century or the 'better music mix' of the GWR era stations, could have legs...
Kisstory's a possibility, I've put it down as going local in the current heat slots but it's certainly a unique format in that no other station is 100% oldskool rhythmic... Absolute decades could also be an option if they migrate across, if most of the stations on D2 were delivered in DAB+ there'd be capacity for a greater number of services to be carried, plausibly including the Absolute spinoffs - it depends if Bauer want to sacrifice original-DAB-only listeners for the coverage. It's kinda like the argument about the BBC and/or Sky switching off SD - will the gains from moving to the new form offset the loss of original-format viewers/listeners?
As for number of stations VS stereo sound, I've chosen to go down a similar road to D1 by offering stereo as far as possible, but then utilising mono as a way to get a broader range. I've tried to ensure a wide range of age and interest groups are covered. There are other ways of divvying up the space - if LBC stayed on D1 then, say, Juice and Jazz could go to 112k, but again, my idea's just one of thousands, your ideal D2 may be a few stations at higher quality which is just as valid an option.
4Digital offered mostly unlaunched and proposed stations, whereas my lineup's based on existing stations and formats, not least because I (and to an extent you) will know what they already sound like!
Regardless of who wins the licence for Digital 2 I think we can safely assume it will mostly comprise of currently existing stations that will migrate across from local or regional (or even D1 to free space) muxes.
I'd be interested to see what UTV could bring to D2 though, having a national version of one of their stations such as Juice like you suggested could be interesting.
However if it was an operator from France or Germany like I think a previous post mentioned what could we expect?
Imagine you are a small station currently on one of the London local muxes. If moving from London2 to D2 would only cost 30% more while suddenly increasing your potential audience fivefold it could make an interesting business case. Anyone outside of London would get a 'new' station.
Exactly! It won't be of any great benefit to listeners in London or a few other areas. The real benefit will be for those in parts of the UK where the choice isn't as great as what a listener would have in the capital. You could see stations like Kerrang and XFM which are already at near national status across various muxes see their costs slashed by having them migrate across to the new Digital 2, covering the areas they were already in and a few extra too! (With the exception that XFM would obviously stay local in areas such as London, Scotland and Manchester so those could end up with two versions)
I wouldn't expect great bit rates for any of these stations though. If it is the choice angle the companies want to go for with DAB we could see D2 having a similar set up to D1.
Given UTV see Signal as their "top" regional station, I bet this brand will be rolled out for all of the UK given most of UTV's networked output comes from Stoke now.