Looks like all is not so rosy with digital radio in Britain either despite what you'll read here and other places. Their problems sound eerily familiar and this is ten years out from their initial downgrade. I guess you just can't force people to embrace "our inevitable digital future" It looks like they are trying to force people to buy them for a different reason than we are but all else is very familiar. When is this dead end diversion going to end? What happened to "give the consumer what they want" rather than "let's force the consumer to buy this junk they don't want?" in the UK the BBC wants to control what British citizens see and hear, what is behind the US push besides money?:
In terms of UK market penetration, nearly a decade after the DAB platform launched, only a minority of consumers are demonstrating an interest in purchasing DAB radio receivers.
/snip/
Even amongst the minority of consumers who own DAB radio receivers, the majority of their listening via digital platforms is to stations they can already receive on analogue radio.
/snip/
Data from the same RAJAR survey shows that in-car listening accounts for 20 per cent of total radio usage in the UK, though DAB radios remain a rarity in cars. In 2007, 2.4 million new vehicles were registered in the UK, of which around a third offered the option to include a DAB radio as a standard ‘line-fit’ or as an optional extra. Yet only 20,000 buyers chose to install a DAB radio.
/snip/
At a global level, IP-delivered audio (‘internet radio’) is much more likely to become the main platform for digital radio in the long term, as a supplement to existing FM analogue radio broadcast systems in each country.
/snip/
In this way, the UK-centric, protectionist, policies recommended by the Digital Radio Working Group would seem to benefit large UK broadcast stakeholders….. but not the consumer,
more at:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/29/grant_goddard_drwg_analysis/
In terms of UK market penetration, nearly a decade after the DAB platform launched, only a minority of consumers are demonstrating an interest in purchasing DAB radio receivers.
/snip/
Even amongst the minority of consumers who own DAB radio receivers, the majority of their listening via digital platforms is to stations they can already receive on analogue radio.
/snip/
Data from the same RAJAR survey shows that in-car listening accounts for 20 per cent of total radio usage in the UK, though DAB radios remain a rarity in cars. In 2007, 2.4 million new vehicles were registered in the UK, of which around a third offered the option to include a DAB radio as a standard ‘line-fit’ or as an optional extra. Yet only 20,000 buyers chose to install a DAB radio.
/snip/
At a global level, IP-delivered audio (‘internet radio’) is much more likely to become the main platform for digital radio in the long term, as a supplement to existing FM analogue radio broadcast systems in each country.
/snip/
In this way, the UK-centric, protectionist, policies recommended by the Digital Radio Working Group would seem to benefit large UK broadcast stakeholders….. but not the consumer,
more at:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/29/grant_goddard_drwg_analysis/