I can only assume Absolute 60s and 00s are only on in Inverness so they can still be considered as DAB stations and not internet only. Do Absolute gain some kind of regulatory benefit as a result?
Music licensing costs are lower for stations on a broadcast platform as opposed to internet-only stations, and they also continue to be eligible for inclusion on Radioplayer. Internet stations can't be part of the Radioplayer platform.
Music licensing costs are lower for stations on a broadcast platform as opposed to internet-only stations, and they also continue to be eligible for inclusion on Radioplayer. Internet stations can't be part of the Radioplayer platform.
Ministry of Sound Radio was on Radioplayer despite being an online only station.
I live in Hereford,and will loose Planet rock from Monday,according to the link
on PR web site,nearly all Wales will loose PR,
they estimate about 200,000 listeners will be gone !!!
that sounds a lot for PR,!!!
hope the management are happy
Also the areas being dropped tend to be areas with less stations so more chance of PR and Abs80s picking up listeners, but the D2 areas are places like London with tonnes of stations so must be hard to compete where they remain.
they estimate about 200,000 listeners will be gone !!!
that sounds a lot for PR,!!!
hope the management are happy
Ofcom and DCMS seem happy Bauer have helped D2 finally launch and the move of 2 stations have been approved. But does not help DABs image for listeners affected.
The Bauer accountants will be happy a couple of stations struggling to bring in advertising revenues , although losing a fifth of listeners will save half the costs of transmission making PR and Abs 80s profitable.
Some listeners might move to Absolute on D1 some may listen online Sky, or freesat?
The variation request to OFCOM just states that '(Digital One) will continue to seek additional customers for vacant capacity'.
There will be 168kbps capacity free on D1 at the beginning of next month. Personally I was hoping that Global would at least increase Radio X to Stereo (as it is not Stereo on local muxes unlike the other Global stations) but there is presently no sign of that.
D1 might put its hopes on DAB+ to sell the capacity at a 'reasonable' price, but even that would be at a premium over what those DAB+ stations on D2 are paying, and there is no evidence as yet that they are going to pull in many listeners. So potential purchasers will be wary.
The market appears to be at or near capacity at present so we could be waiting a while for all of the 168kbps capacity to be taken (unless Arqiva decide to offer lower rates of course).
I imagine the fact there will now be spare capacity on D1 wouldn't sit well with the PR & Abs80s listeners who are losing service tomorrow evening, but there seems to be an absence of commercial understanding of the situation out there.
I live in Hereford,and will loose Planet rock from Monday,according to the link
on PR web site,nearly all Wales will loose PR,
That isn't a correct statement. because the new mux is being transmitted from Wenvoe, Kilvey Hill & Moel-y-Parc. These serve the main cities of Cardiff, Newport, Swansea & Wrexham. D1 has never broadcast in the heads of the valleys, so the people losing it from DAB are mainly in west Wales.
The UK DAB coverage reduction is from 90% to 76%. There are 1,215,000 listeners, of which around two thirds (810,000) will be listening via DAB. The potential loss is therefore 126,000 (10.4%), assuming none of the affected listeners switch to other platforms.
I imagine the fact there will now be spare capacity on D1 wouldn't sit well with the PR & Abs80s listeners who are losing service tomorrow evening, but there seems to be an absence of commercial understanding of the situation out there.
D1 unsuccessfully tried to stop the move to D2 with the variation request at the last minute, but Ofcom approved it, perhaps should have been a public consultation, but Bauer probably would have said the stations have been financially struggling and it's the best way to help them to become profitable?
D1 unsuccessfully tried to stop the move to D2 with the variation request at the last minute, but Ofcom approved it, perhaps should have been a public consultation, but Bauer probably would have said the stations have been financially struggling and it's the best way to help them to become profitable?
These variation requests often go in at short notice (I imagine to minimise the availability of commercially sensitive information about launches etc. and to stop us geeks becoming aware). This one however, at over two weeks, doesn't seem particularly close to the wire. Why do you believe there was any attempt here to stop the move by D1
Presumably Bauer will not be paying D1 for the bandwidth from the end of the month so if D1 didn't put the variation in either they would be in breach themselves (for not broadcasting a station that is on their licence) or they would be broadcasting the stations for free (which Bauer may not even allow, as they probably just want this change over with now after being strung out for so long).
Now there may have been a hope at Arqiva that the prospect of losing listeners would persuade Bauer to change their minds regarding D1, but what they definitely don't do is give away capacity for free.
As always the definition of coverage depends on your point of view. The three remaining Welsh transmitters cover the main population areas of the South Wales coastal strip including Cardiff and Swansea) and Deeside. The eight transmitters that do not broadcast D2 cover a larger geographical area, but a much small population. This is all down to where people live in Wales.
As the prime consideration of a commercial radio station is the number of listeners it can reach, the geographical area covered is a much lower priority. As far as they are concerned in terms of numbers of listeners they are not losing 'nearly all of Wales' as johnwebley puts it.
D1 unsuccessfully tried to stop the move to D2 with the variation request at the last minute, but Ofcom approved it, perhaps should have been a public consultation, but Bauer probably would have said the stations have been financially struggling and it's the best way to help them to become profitable?
I'm sure D1 made absolutely no attempt to block the move.
The way you try to stop somebody moving is to offer them favourable terms to stay. Or you just let them go - which is what Arqiva have done here.
You can't force somebody to broadcast on your channel and pay for the privilege. If Bauer were unwilling to pay Arqiva their fees then the only option after they stopped paying would be to carry for free. They are not going to do that.
Also the areas being dropped tend to be areas with less stations so more chance of PR and Abs80s picking up listeners, but the D2 areas are places like London with tonnes of stations so must be hard to compete where they remain.
Is online listening more popular in areas with fewer DAB stations? That might make sense because if you've got over 100 DAB stations you might be less likely to look for extra choice than if you've only got BBC, D1 and a local multiplex, which might only have been switched on in the last few years.
Is online listening more popular in areas with fewer DAB stations? That might make sense because if you've got over 100 DAB stations you might be less likely to look for extra choice than if you've only got BBC, D1 and a local multiplex, which might only have been switched on in the last few years.
That makes sense to me yes. I fully accept that the sound quality is not very good on DAB as implemented in the UK. But in the car I get so many radio stations and the coverage is excellent.
It's just not worth the effort to fire up the app on my phone and find a station that way.
Also Aquiva are part of D2 as well remember and probably think they can convince Jazz FM in the future to go DAB+ on D1 etc.
Depends how much 32kbps DAB+ on Digital 1 will be compared to 32kbps DAB+ on Sound Digital now. There's also licensing restrictions and legally binding contracts to consider too.
Also, Jazz FM was supposed to be 80kbps mono DAB on Sound Digital - at some point before launch, a decision will have been made to reduce the bitrate, gamble with DAB+ and sell it on the point of being in stereo which will reduce the cost to Jazz FM of going nationwide. It makes me wonder whether the cost of nationwide(-ish) 80kbps would have been too costly in the long term.
Looking at how the stations rate I'm surprised Bauer didn't take the cost hit with Absolute 80s & leave it on D1 & put Absolute 70s on D2 . One thing is for sure the station will take a hit from its current strong digital performance listener wise .
Looking at how the stations rate I'm surprised Bauer didn't take the cost hit with Absolute 80s & leave it on D1 & put Absolute 70s on D2 . One thing is for sure the station will take a hit from its current strong digital performance listener wise .
Me too. It's been such a success I would have thought it was pushing the Absolute network as a whole into the sights of advertisers.
Looking at how the stations rate I'm surprised Bauer didn't take the cost hit with Absolute 80s & leave it on D1 & put Absolute 70s on D2 . One thing is for sure the station will take a hit from its current strong digital performance listener wise .
Me too. It's been such a success I would have thought it was pushing the Absolute network as a whole into the sights of advertisers.
Absolute 80's Sunday night show Forgotten80s is trending at No 5 on twitter tonight.....has trended most Sunday nights for about 4-5 months now......
Let's see if the move to D2 enables this to continue after the imminent D1 switch off.
By virtue of the fact the people posting on Twitter are already online using a device that will pick up the station I doubt it will have any major effect.
The Forgotten 80s show has a particularly dedicated following so fans of the show are likely to make more of an effort to ensure they can still listen to it in the future.
Comments
Music licensing costs are lower for stations on a broadcast platform as opposed to internet-only stations, and they also continue to be eligible for inclusion on Radioplayer. Internet stations can't be part of the Radioplayer platform.
Ministry of Sound Radio was on Radioplayer despite being an online only station.
I live in Hereford,and will loose Planet rock from Monday,according to the link
on PR web site,nearly all Wales will loose PR,
they estimate about 200,000 listeners will be gone !!!
that sounds a lot for PR,!!!
hope the management are happy
Also the areas being dropped tend to be areas with less stations so more chance of PR and Abs80s picking up listeners, but the D2 areas are places like London with tonnes of stations so must be hard to compete where they remain.
Any news on what will take their place on D1?
The Bauer accountants will be happy a couple of stations struggling to bring in advertising revenues , although losing a fifth of listeners will save half the costs of transmission making PR and Abs 80s profitable.
Some listeners might move to Absolute on D1 some may listen online Sky, or freesat?
The variation request to OFCOM just states that '(Digital One) will continue to seek additional customers for vacant capacity'.
There will be 168kbps capacity free on D1 at the beginning of next month. Personally I was hoping that Global would at least increase Radio X to Stereo (as it is not Stereo on local muxes unlike the other Global stations) but there is presently no sign of that.
D1 might put its hopes on DAB+ to sell the capacity at a 'reasonable' price, but even that would be at a premium over what those DAB+ stations on D2 are paying, and there is no evidence as yet that they are going to pull in many listeners. So potential purchasers will be wary.
The market appears to be at or near capacity at present so we could be waiting a while for all of the 168kbps capacity to be taken (unless Arqiva decide to offer lower rates of course).
I imagine the fact there will now be spare capacity on D1 wouldn't sit well with the PR & Abs80s listeners who are losing service tomorrow evening, but there seems to be an absence of commercial understanding of the situation out there.
That isn't a correct statement. because the new mux is being transmitted from Wenvoe, Kilvey Hill & Moel-y-Parc. These serve the main cities of Cardiff, Newport, Swansea & Wrexham. D1 has never broadcast in the heads of the valleys, so the people losing it from DAB are mainly in west Wales.
The UK DAB coverage reduction is from 90% to 76%. There are 1,215,000 listeners, of which around two thirds (810,000) will be listening via DAB. The potential loss is therefore 126,000 (10.4%), assuming none of the affected listeners switch to other platforms.
These variation requests often go in at short notice (I imagine to minimise the availability of commercially sensitive information about launches etc. and to stop us geeks becoming aware). This one however, at over two weeks, doesn't seem particularly close to the wire. Why do you believe there was any attempt here to stop the move by D1
Presumably Bauer will not be paying D1 for the bandwidth from the end of the month so if D1 didn't put the variation in either they would be in breach themselves (for not broadcasting a station that is on their licence) or they would be broadcasting the stations for free (which Bauer may not even allow, as they probably just want this change over with now after being strung out for so long).
Now there may have been a hope at Arqiva that the prospect of losing listeners would persuade Bauer to change their minds regarding D1, but what they definitely don't do is give away capacity for free.
As the prime consideration of a commercial radio station is the number of listeners it can reach, the geographical area covered is a much lower priority. As far as they are concerned in terms of numbers of listeners they are not losing 'nearly all of Wales' as johnwebley puts it.
They submitted the request on 4th April which is a completely normal timeframe.
I'm sure D1 made absolutely no attempt to block the move.
The way you try to stop somebody moving is to offer them favourable terms to stay. Or you just let them go - which is what Arqiva have done here.
You can't force somebody to broadcast on your channel and pay for the privilege. If Bauer were unwilling to pay Arqiva their fees then the only option after they stopped paying would be to carry for free. They are not going to do that.
Is online listening more popular in areas with fewer DAB stations? That might make sense because if you've got over 100 DAB stations you might be less likely to look for extra choice than if you've only got BBC, D1 and a local multiplex, which might only have been switched on in the last few years.
That makes sense to me yes. I fully accept that the sound quality is not very good on DAB as implemented in the UK. But in the car I get so many radio stations and the coverage is excellent.
It's just not worth the effort to fire up the app on my phone and find a station that way.
Also, Jazz FM was supposed to be 80kbps mono DAB on Sound Digital - at some point before launch, a decision will have been made to reduce the bitrate, gamble with DAB+ and sell it on the point of being in stereo which will reduce the cost to Jazz FM of going nationwide. It makes me wonder whether the cost of nationwide(-ish) 80kbps would have been too costly in the long term.
Me too. It's been such a success I would have thought it was pushing the Absolute network as a whole into the sights of advertisers.
Me too. It's been such a success I would have thought it was pushing the Absolute network as a whole into the sights of advertisers.
If you mean putting Absolute 60's70's and 80's together as one station, i totally agree. Bring it on!:)
Let's see if the move to D2 enables this to continue after the imminent D1 switch off.
By virtue of the fact the people posting on Twitter are already online using a device that will pick up the station I doubt it will have any major effect.