Muxco have issued this on there blog... http://www.muxco.com/blog/

Would it be viable? Would at least give the trial mux stations a bigger coverage area, if they decided to move over.
Last edited by richardpaul1987 : 08-12-2016 at 18:20

I don't think the title here is accurate. It looks more like a unilateral action by MuxCo to try and pressure Ofcom into releasing spectrum for a new Manchester multiplex.

In any case, it's a great idea - the Bauer mux is full (mainly with Bauer services) and it's difficult for new entrants to get into the marketplace. The demand is demonstrably there, evidenced by the heavy use of the Manchester minimux. A second multiplex for a major city like Manchester is a no-brainer. London has three, so two for major areas like Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham etc is only fair.

Changed it. Don't usually start threads on here.

The success of many of the minimuxes demostrates there's demand for another tier of muxes, and they would probably be sustainable in most conurbations.

Muxco have also shown that, presumably via lower operating costs, or perhaps smaller capex because the technology is more mature, new services can be developed (see n.yorks or n.wales & chester mux as examples), which wouldn't have got a look in on the Bauer local muxes, full as they are of their own automated decades services, and apparently with much higher carriage fees..

Therefore I think, whilst this is a bold claim, it's a justified one, and could open a new tier of broadcasting for communities of interest in big cities and urban areas, as well as reducing the domiance of the big radio groups.

From a pratical point of view, following the reorganisation of the mux frequencies and additional tx'es, just how many spare frequencies are there on DAB in a city like Manchester, or other big cities?

Now the L-band is dead, would it be technically possible to license another city wide mux on a frequency which didn't affect geographically neighbouring muxes?

The local Manchester commercial mux was on 11C and took over 12C when the NW MXR mux closed.
http://www.wohnort.org/dab/ukloc.html#Manch
Shame they will not say make some existing stations like Kiss Fresh DAB+ to allow new DAB+ stations, but some existing listeners without DAB+ sets might lose out?

Going to 12C enabled the Manchester commercial mux to increase power.

However Liverpool also has 2 local commercial muxes, but no minimux.

11C is in use in Yorkshire and other parts of the UK and will also be used for the proposed Isle of Mann mux, Guess it could be reused in Manchester for a new power limited commercial mux as it should not interfere with other 11C muxes, will allow better coverage than the minimux on 10B, but less than the current commercial mux on 12C?.

It's sensible to look at giving major cities outside London with well-developed radio markets the option of a second commercial multiplex - certainly in Manchester and Birmingham there's not even room for all the local AM/FM licences to be accommodated. London has three regular muxes including CE's competing/coexisting with each other and a minimux; until recently, outside London the MXR muxes took up some of the slack, bur with those gone there's become something of a capacity crunch, which means a poorer sservice for those outside London. Whilst some stations previously operating on local/regional muxes are now national (Radio X, LBC, Capital Xtra) and consolidation has killed off others (Century and Real being swallowed into Heart for instance), there is still likely to be interest in reaching major population centres from stations which can't or won't get coverage on existing muxes or D1/SDL...

There is definitely demand for a second full-scale multiplex in Manchester, the trial mux currently has 19 stations crammed in.

Liverpool doesn't have two commercial multiplexes, it has one.

The coverage map for the MuxCo multiplex shows its protected area as being North East Wales, western parts of Cheshire and the Wirral - Liverpool is overspill. MuxCo have done the same with their Surrey multiplex, putting it on Crystal Palace and covering South London.

Whether official or overspill, MuxCo NE Wales/W Cheshire covers Liverpool very well and is even transmitted from the Radio City tower in Liverpool City Centre.

The maps on the Ofcom website show Merseyside is well covered, right up to Southport.

http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/ra...s/dl000049.pdf

This is a good call but Muxco? I don't think so. In the 3 years they've sold only 65% of the bandwidth they are sitting on. And progressive they are not. Just 5 of the 73 services they carry are in DAB+ .

If they want to do something, they need to concentrate on selling the spare capacity on their own multiplexes rather than a land grab for multiplex frequencies all around the country.

To be fair they seem more progressive than other local multiplex operators. I can't think of (other than minimuxes) any other local DAB+ services outside the capital.

Regarding unused bandwith, you could argue that it's difficult to make comparisons as many of their muxes cover relatively rural areas. That, and the Bauer muxes are only full because of their automated decades stations, which some people argue are little more than placeholders to justify higher carriage fees to local competition, creating the illusion of high demand.

Elsewhere Stoke, and in the past, Inverness were as bad an example of under untilised muxes as anything muxco operates.

That said I do agree this seems like an attempt at a land grab. Of course ofcom would have to advertise any future muxes as per the normal application process, so there's no guarantee they'd win it. I think it's good they're forcing the conversation.

I can't believe no one has said this already, but, here's an imaginary timeline based on MuxCo's previous mux launches:

January 2018: Ofcom advertises Manchester 2nd mux

May 2018: Ofcom awards licence to MuxCo

October 2025: MuxCo launch Manchester 2nd mux

The last local mux rollout was delayed by an Ofcom review so providing existing operators Bauer, Global and Niocast (As the existing muxes are full) do not object another mux can be advertised and up and running at existing sites Littleborough, Saddleworth, Sunley Building, Sutton Common and Winter Hill within a year.

But will there be a rush of new commercial stations willing to pay for Greater Manchester coverage. Nation seem to be behind the bid
http://radiotoday.co.uk/2016/12/dab-...in-manchester/
so Chris Country and Dragon (perhaps renamed) will move. XS is another possibility?, as the 4 London muxes are full it could be a commercial success.

Unfair. They have multiplexes in areas of the country where the big service providers (Bauer and Global) either already have coverage or don't want to pay for it. Nevertheless, they are running stations from a number of independent groups.

Also, any new multiplexes wouldn't be handed to Muxco, of course. There'd have to a awards process.

If this licence was advertised, I don't think MuxCo would be a shoo-in for it. Niocast have cut their teeth on the small-scale local multiplex but there's nothing at all stopping them from applying for this. MuxCo in Manchester would be starting from scratch, whereas Niocast already have links in place with many of the local radio operators in the city and a proven track record of getting new entrants and new formats on air. My bet - if the licence is advertised, of course - is a joint venture bid from MuxCo/Niocast.

Speaking of Nation and Niocast, why has Dragon Radio appeared on the Trial Manchester multiplex? A voicetracked AC station targeting Wales doesn't appear to have any particular relevance to Manchester - it's not like there's a huge Welsh diaspora desperate for news from home that they'll only be able to get from Dragon. I expect it's a placeholder of some kind for a Dragon/Thames style service for Manchester itself.

If we are having another Manchester multiplex then what about Birmingham?

I'm not getting into a tedious debate about which is the second city but they are both large urban areas which deserve more than one MUX.

This discussion came out of a Radio Academy event about DAB which took place in Manchester last week, which is why there's the focus on Manchester. I agree that if we're going to licence second multiplexes, it should be across all major cities.

Very true, Manchester has a population of approx half the size of Birmingham, so it makes sense for B'ham to be included.

A pity the West Mids regional closed.

Hardly overspill because one transmitter is right in the city centre, so you could get BBC Radio Wales, DeeonDAB etc with the aerial down even with all the huge buildings.

Having a transmitter located somewhere to cover somewhere nearby but not officially the area in which it's transmitting from is done quite a few times. The Storeton transmitter on the Wirral provides BBC ONE Wales & ITV Wales to aim the signal into Deeside in places like Connah's Quay & Flint which are in the shadow of Moel Y Parc, meaning those channels must be scanned in in most houses in the area that use Freeview.

Rather than creating more multiplexes, Ofcom should decide who broadcasts o each multiplex based on how many hours they are live and local, and take the decision away from the multiplex opperators. All broadcasters could pay their fair share to cover transmission costs.

So you'd want to take Chris Country off the air, and remove genuine choice from the airwaves?

It's based on the urban (not metropolitan) areas and Manchester has a larger population than Birmingham.

If you are to replicate the existing local DAB coverage then Birmingham's 2nd city-wide multiplex will have an MCA circa 965,000 and Manchester's 2nd multiplex will have an MCA circa 1,600,000.

That to one side, both Manchester and Birmingham clearly require an alternative local multiplex operator to CE Digital's monopolistic platform/service provider grip on digital radio in two of our major cities.

How soon was the Suffolk launch after award - I thought it was a year or so?

Yes, we are talking at cross purposes. The urban area Greater Manchester is different to Manchester. There are other large urban areas ie West Midlands which is different to Birmingham. The City of Birmingham has a greater population than the City of Manchester.

Perhaps the 2 urban areas West Mids and GM could benefit from another mux. Then again we've been there before with the WM mux.