Search Results

Asian airports regularly win awards for being the best in the world. Incheon outside Seoul and the international airport in Hong Kong often receive acclaim for good reasons. I should know, I have been to a few. None of the famous ones can however match my favourite airport in the world. And it is not even in Asia. It is in North America, but not where you might expect. Saint Lucia is with its 617 square kilometers one of the smallest countries in the world. It has two airports, the smallest one being George F. L. Charles Airport with the IATA airport code SLU. Why is it so great? It’s virtually on the beach, the check in area being only 20 meters from the water. And the beach is exactly like you imagine a pristine Caribbean beach, with fine white sand and crystal clear water. The location of the airport invites to a rather unusual airport experience. The airport is also only two kilometers from Castries, the capital city. Other facilities include a newsagent which sells postcards and stamps, a souvenir shop and a pretty decent coffee shop. What else do you need? SLU is hereby awarded the 2012 Garfors Awards as the world’s best airport. Related opinions: World Airport Awards Best airports to sleep in Travelvivi’s best airports

When the going gets tough, the French gets going. France has been very slow in adopting digital radio. But this is now set to change on short notice. CSA (The Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel) recently announced that they open up for DAB+ in addition to DMB Audio. Now they are moving fast from baby steps to giant leaps, according to daily newspaper Les Echos which claims that CSA has a two step plan. First they will allow digital radio in Paris to around fifty radio stations. Fourty stations in both Marseille and Nice will get the same treatment, thus making them able to start broadcasting digitally this year. The second step is to call for applications in another 20 major cities, reaching a population coverage of more than 50%. It is expected that the broadcasters will follow CSAs last relevant announcement and go for DAB+, not DMB Audio. That lowers distribution costs per radio station as DAB+ is more effective for radio than DMB which is designed for mobile TV. These two steps will clear the ground for France’s ultimate goal within radio, to switch off FM. Rachid Arhab of CSA tells Les Echos that a date for that will be set when 40% coverage has been reached, something which is achievable within a year given the plans to introduce digital radio to 20 cities in France. This is a welcome step from France, finally making sure that they follow the “rest” of Europe in what is now set to be a common strategy to let radio go digital and to finally get rid of FM. Then again, they didn’t have much of a choice should they avoid becoming a huge radio museum in the middle of Europe. And now the plan is quite clear, according to Radio Numérique: By the end of March : • Letter to all radio stations to authorize them to broadcast in digital within four months. Duration : stations have 2 + 2 month to start broadcasting • Call for tender to those few stations that stopped transmitting digitally or gave back their frequency. The application will be 3 months after the tender is official. After the French elections: • The new government will be asked to perform a public consultation to add DAB+ to the official standards list (this is mandatory due to the technical change). This will happen within 15 days of the new government taking office. • As soon as the public consultation has been launched, a request will be sent to Brussels to add DAB+ to the recommended list of standards. By August: • There will be a call for tender for DAB+ frequencies in the 20 biggest cities. • DAB+ is expected to have been validated in Brussels by then. By September: • Start of broadcasting in Paris, Nice and Marseille. By February 2013: • Start of broadcasting in another 20 cities. Digital radio will then cover between 50% and 80% of the French population, something that will cause the government to set a switch off date for FM.

A shift from data transport via the internet to data transport via broadcasting networks will create 62 billion USD (in present value terms) extra in the US economy from 2014 to 2026. This is being claimed in the report The Economic value of Broadcast Innovation – Impact on the U.S. Treasure, by Business Analytix Inc., published last November. Do note that the 62 billion dollars are for the US alone. The world wide ancillary revenue share is much higher. 50 billion connected devices So, how can this be? Every minute, hundreds of people buy a new or another “connected device,” a gadget that is connected to the internet. There are currently around 5 billion such devices in the world. In 2015 there will be 15 billion connected devices, in 2020 there will be 50(!) billion of them, a tenfold increase from today, according to Intel. The number is far higher than the number of people on Earth as many people will have several devices, but more importantly due to machine to machine communication. More and more traffic is shifting from the internet via fibre and other terrestial distribution forms to portable devices via mobile internet. And let us not forget the surge in cloud services. More an more people and businesses now store their data in “the cloud,” or on servers that can be accessed “everywhere” via the internet. The downside is that this leads to an explosion in bandwidth usage. There will due to the above mentioned reasons soon be a major traffic jam on the mobile internet. And who likes traffic jams? Only Shell, Texaco and BP. And maybe some street vendors. Who likes internet traffic jams? Mobile network operators will use the opportunity to introduce new data traffic plans, giving those that pay premium a good service, letting the rest share the leftovers and be stuck in traffic. It’s like beating the traffic jam on the motorway by flying a helicopter. Not many can afford to do it, those who can ensure healthy incomes to those who solve their problems. Business Analytixs agrees with me and an increasing number of people within the industry: The best way to meet the projected explosive growth in mobile data is to allow broadcasters to use point-to-multipoint “Broadcast Overlay” technology to provide the most efficient possible delivery of high bandwidth data to mobile users. Simply allocating more spectrum to commercial wireless operators would do very little to address projected massive capacity shortfalls and would do even less to address Federal budget deficits. Commercial mobile networks based on “cellular” one-to-one architectures are not designed to efficiently carry the portion of mobile data traffic that is likely to grow the fastest. 70-fold increase in data traffic By 2026, data traffic via the mobile internet will have skyrocketed, increasing 70 times from the current level, according to the Business Analytic report. So even if MNOs get their hands on more spectrum as they are currently trying to (most of the spectrum from broadcasters), that would hardly help at all. That will only ensure that valuable means of distributing mobile data will end up in the hands of very few companies, essentially creating monopoly like conditions. Who would want that? A linear increase in the supply of spectrum cannot solve a geometric increase in demand for mobile data. The projected growth in mobile data traffic is so great that re-allocation of television spectrum would provide only temporary and barely discernible relief. Broadcasting spectrum must remain in the hands of broadcasters that operate independently of MNOs and ISPs. MNOs claim that governments would make billions of dollars on auctions of these frequencies. But a one time auction revenue cannot in any way, form or manner compete with assets that carry an infinite value. The value of annual fees paid by broadcasters will pass the one time fee in an auction within a few years. But the value is not only monetary. This also has to do with culture and language. About securing the right of societies to get news, sports, entertainment and cultural programming and content in their own language, from their own area, preserving their own culture and cultural background. This isn’t about stopping the advancement of the internet. This is about making sure that relevant content is carried across the optimal distribution method in order to reach everyone in a smart and cost efficient manner. Live television and radio content, which consumes enormous amounts of data, should not be transported via the internet. It is a total waste, unless you are outside the coverage area. Such content should go via broadcasting networks. Normal web surfing, on-demand programming and personalized sevices on the other hand should go via the internet. Simply using the right architecture for the right traffic will do far more to alleviate mobile traffic jams than any amount of re-purposed spectrum. The 62 billion USD extra can be generated thanks to the efficiency of transporting data via a broadcasting network that can reach an infinite number of people at the same time, as opposed to what is possible via the internet which serves one person at the time, something that creates jams and less than optimal services. Broadcasting will also change Of course, everything is not perfect when it comes to broadcasting either. Currently, traditional linear radio and TV is more or less the only kind of service being carried across broadcasting networks (except i.e. traffic services and teletext like services in certain countries). How about using the broadcasting networks to also carry other kinds of data that a lot of people want? Such as the 100 most popular Youtube videos. This can then be stored on your device and watched on-demand whenever you want it. I met with Youtube 14 months ago. They were not interested in making their top content available as TV channels. They have however changed strategy since then with the introduction of 100 online tv channels. It may only be a matter of time before they are transmitted via broadcasting networks as well, or before they transit their top content via such networks. Broadcasting is perfect in a collective society, as we all do live in. “Everyone” will, after all, want to get news, sports and premieres of new shows or episodes first. Then add individuality, which is taken care of by the possibilities we get through the internet, and we have a win-win situation. MNOs will tell us that multicasting solutions will solve the capacity issue sometime in the future, but they have told us so the last 10 years. And it is not only about capacity, there are a number of other reasons why the internet won’t solve it all. I will finish by repeating myself from an earlier commentary. Greed may be good, but for live television and radio, solidarity is what we need. The Economic value of Broadcast Innovation – Impact on the U.S. Treasure, by Business Analytix Inc. comes highly recommended for those of you that want to understand the future of media.

Simple is good, right? Apple introduced their Iphone which did exactly the same as what Nokia N95 phones did at the time. The difference, except for the form factor of the device, was that the functions were easier to use on the Iphone. We all know what happened to the sales of Apple’s Iphone and Nokia’s smart phones. Radio is simple. It’s linear and live, like life itself. It is just there. It can used as enjoyment, challengement, information or just to help pass time. Anywhere, anytime and while doing something else. It just doesn’t seem to be very fashionable. Linear radio. Just to utter the words these days suddenly makes the speaker seem old fashioned. It is on demand streaming or podcasts that are the trending topics of radio jargon these days. But the live bit is what I love about radio. The life of it, the immediacy. It gives me, as a listener, the possibility to discover new programs, new music, new genres and new topics just by listening in. No matter who my friends are, no matter whether anyone recommended something or “liked” it online. And no matter what I have listened to before, which kind of news I consume, my weight, my age or my gender. Radio does not discriminate it’s listeners. Everyone gets the same, at the same time. It is wonderfully non-personalized. Who needs radio with Spotify or Wimp, some people ask. Radio is so much more than music. And radio has survived LPs cassettes, mini discs, laser discs and CDs. Music has always been available, that I can listen it to other people’s playlists is not a game changer. People have always listened to radio, and they still do. I like the stories accompanying the music. Favorite program leaders and DJs are popular because they know their music, they know their listeners and they can communicate with them. Radio is like a conversation that the listeners can take part in or just listen to. A conversation that is not live can certainly work, but I would argue that a live conversation has a totally different edge to it. It is happening now. No one knows what will come out of it. Like life itself. I am getting towards the end. But first, I would like to quote a little part of a very well put speech which Ove Joanson of Media Conglomerate AB in Sweden gave during Medientage in Munich in October 2009. It is still as relevant now as then. “Radio is the medium of civilized man. Radio balances emotion and intellect. Radio has more presence and authenticity than a printed text – without being burdened by the need to find moving images that so often influences the topics of television and blurs its focus. Radio is our most important medium because it is the medium of relevance to those who want to know and the medium of feelings to those who want to feel. The problem for radio is its self-evidence. It is easy to produce, even easier to consume, so easy in fact that is it often taken for granted and often overlooked. Radio, being the largest mass medium in many countries, my own included, is the world’s most wide-spread secret.” What to do to reveal the secret? The UN is doing their bit. Yesterday, february 13, was World Radio Day, the international radio day. Today is Valentine’s Day, the international love day. Let’s combine them. I love radio. And I will continue to be an enthusiastic, curious and keen listener, just like millions and billions of other people around the world. From now, to eternity.

Linear radio and TV, or broadcasting, is out. It is oldfashioned. No one wants to consume programmes exactly when they air anyway and to have to rely on a schedule. Or is this yet again words that are often echoed thanks to the internet lobby? I would clearly say the latter. We hear a lot about new over the top and on demand services. They will give everyone the freedom to watch or listen to whatever they want whenever. Such services are great! But they complement live broadcasting, they do in no way replace it. Nor should they, as the internet is not designed nor suited to cater for heavy radio and TV consumption. Claims that the internet will solve “everything” are inaccurate and false. There are several reasons why live TV and live radio is a success and will stay successful, strong and important also in the future. 1. Sports You do not want to watch or listen to recorded sports. Not entire games, matches or events at least. Nothing beats the excitement of a good football match, Tour de France leg or crosscountry ski race. Highlights are different, though. You will be happy to relive the fantastic goals of your team many times over. 2. News Breaking news share some of the characteristics of sports. You want to see the press conference or get information following the terror attack as the events happen. Recorded news are hardly “news” anymore, but archived news. You may be happy with a recorded sum up on a ‘normal’ day, but especially breaking news events change the game. 3. New releases Every programme has a premiere. And premieres attract a lot of people, whether we are talking about a blockbuster in the cinema or a television drama. It seems like people prefer to watch television at the same time as everyone else, at least not later. “Lillyhammer,” a Norwegian TV drama series airing on Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s NRK1, is for instance breaking viewership records every episode (three episodes of eight shown so far). 4. Live discussions You cannot discuss a TV show or a radio programme in realtime with someone who is not watching or listening at the same time as you. My Twitter and Facebook feeds are regularly dominated by discussions or comments on TV and radio programmes. 5. Being served To be attended to is a luxury. Some people feel that they already make too many decicions during a day. At work, in school, at home. To just unwind and be served quality programmes by someone who knows content and are qualified to pick out eminent programmes can be a luxury. -You know the menu, please serve me your best programmes. 6. Discovery Linear consumption is a great way to discover new programmes or artists. There is always a new programme that starts after the previous one. And they may be totally different, giving you insight into new subjects, music or genres. 7. Discrimination free Broadcasted free to air radio and TV does not discriminate. Everyone can get it and everyone gets the same offering. 8. No personalization! Linear radio and TV is thankfully not personalized. Think about it. Google and Facebook and many others take pride in personalizing everything. To make it better. Although this “improvement service” is based on your previous behaviour and what other “like you” do or recommend. It is all about guessing. And it is often about making more money from advertisers. With radio and TV, every consumer listener will be presented the same information in the same manner and in the same order. With the Internet, this is no longer necessarily the case, and a lot of on demand programmes or short clips will be followed by “if you like this, you might also like these.” I have covered this before in The Bias of the Internet. 9. Emergencies In the case of major emergencies, broadcasters often stop their regular programming and inform you of what is happening. And they can inform everyone at once without the network going down. To stop a streamed on demand programme should also technically be possible, but I have yet to see it happen. And the internet will go down or at least slow down dramatically if too many people use it at the same time. Not yet convinced about the future of broadcasted radio and TV? Read about related issues in Why the Internet Won’t Solve Everything.

The evolution from analogue radio via FM to digital radio via DMB/DAB+ is picking up speed by the day. Germany launched nationwide radio for the first time since WWII in August via DAB+ while Norway in May decided to switch off FM. The signal effects have been strong, and we see many other countries on five continents follow suit. And finally, France But what about France? Merkel and Sarkozy are working very close on the economy, can we see the influence of the close German French cooperation also when it comes to radio? We can now. The Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) is the French institution that has been given the responsibility of regulating radio, television and other electronic media. It has now called for DAB+ to be used as a standard for digital radio in France. A letter formally asking the French government to adopt DAB+ as a new digital radio standard was sent from CSA in December, according to Les Echos, the most influencial business newspaper in France. France has so far been very undecisive in their approach to digital radio. They first decided to go for DMB Audio, a part of the same standard (Eureka-147), but DMB is originally ment for mobile television, so it was an odd choice. No other country had chosen to go for DMB Audio as the radio standard, most preferred DAB or the more effective DAB+. And of course, there were hardly any DMB Audio receivers on the market, whereas there were hundreds of DAB/DAB+ models. The Kessler hurdle Then last year, David Kessler published his “Kessler report,” a recommendation to prime minister Francois Fillon on what to do with regards to digitalization of radio. The report contained a number of errors, didn’t properly take into consideration the international evolution and seemed to show a lack of understanding of the subject matter. Kessler concluded that the government should wait for two to three years before letting radio go digital. An odd choice given the progress in other big countries such as Germany, Australia, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands. Some speculated that Kessler was influenced strongly by private broadcasters that did not want to see competition in the already full FM band. DAB+ opens up for many more stations, thus increasing competition to those already holding lucrative FM licenses. The report came out in May last year (a week before the Norwegian government decided to switch off FM in 2017), and soon met the fate of other governmental reports of mediocre quality, it was left in a pile to turn yellow. Note that DAB+ is already being tested in Lyon, with so many broadcasters interested in getting stations on air that more bandwidth (a second mux) will be made available. And radio sales are rumoured to go well in Lyon. The successful test there may have contributed to CSA taking the matter in their own hands through their letter to the government, opening up for broadcasters to go for DAB+ in addition to DMB Audio. The decision was made in November 2011, but not made public until December and not picked up by me until now. This is great news for radio in France. There will almost instantly be hundreds if not thousands of new radio models on the market. There will now be made room for more stations, something that usually forces broadcasters into making better radio programmes due to more competition. And digital radio also opens up for additional services, including a combination of broadcasting and the internet. France’s move furthermore creates a bigger market for device manufacturers, something that means better choice and lower prices in all the countries that have decided to go for DMB/DAB+, the de facto standard for digital radio and mobile TV. The listeners win. They always do in the end, also in France.

I just arrived at PEK, aka. Beijing International Airport. I am on my way to Seoul on business, so I am just about to transfer here for almost four hours. I have transferred here many times before, and I don’t mind since my frequent flier card gives me lounge access. The Star Alliance lounge at PEK is pretty good and the airport is nice, modern and clean. Too many visas But today was not like the other times. I had just left my CA flight from Stockholm and was to go through international transfers. Usually that takes a minute. You have to look into the camera, have your photo taken and both boarding pass and passport stamped. This time this procedure proved difficult. Why? Apparently because of my visa to Nigeria which I used this summer. The policeman picks up his phone, calls his supervisor who comes speeding over on his Segway five minutes later. They converse, before the supervisor takes my passport and speeds off with his walking machine. Ten minutes later the policeman offers me a chair. I start fearing that this will take a while. 15 minutes later he has finished the other transfer passengers. He is on the phone again before asking me to follow through a couple of gates. He shows me into “Special Examination Room.” Beautiful! No rubber gloves in sight though. There three other police officers are going through my passport, checking every single visa against a database of scanned visas. Some problems though. – Is Guinea a country, one of the officers ask? – That is for Equatorial Guinea, not Guinea. I try to explain. – Ghana? – No, Equatorial Guinea. – Oh. Is that a country or an area? – It’s a country. I am asked to sit down. One police officer remains in the room with me, going through every visa and every stamp in my passport. That is currently 51 (I just counted). – Which country is this? – Grenada. – Grenada? – Yes, it’s in the Caribbean. She finds Grenada in an internal database and a word document with a lot of text and several scanned versions of the Grenada visa. She is going through every one of my 51 visas and stamps, apparently looking for any that do not look real. Country games – Which country is this? – Trinidad and Tobago. – And this. – Chad. – How about this? – Iraq. – ?? – Central African Republic. – What? – Central African Republic. – Which country? – Republic of Central Africa. She finally finds it and checks the database for matching visas. We continue the game for 10 or 15 minutes. – Please wait here. She leaves. After 20 minutes I am starting to get slightly impatient. There is nothing much in the 10 square meter big room except for the desk with the computer, one Segway being charged, a microphone in the ceiling, a metal cabinet and a surveillance camera. I walk out to try to find her. She is standig by three senior colleagues, still going through my passport, scanning every single page. My visas have now likely been added to their collection. Lounge time I am finally allowed to leave, and I go to the Air China lounge. I ask for the Wi-Fi password which has been printed on small pieces of paper in the past. No longer so. – The passport machine, the woman behind the counter sneers and looks down. She must be having a bad day or just been asked the same questions way too many times. Passport machine? Oh yes. You will now have to register your passport in order to get access to Wi-Fi at PEK. According to Ministry of Public Order No. 82 Passengers online should authenticate by real name. OK, so not only is large and important parts of the internet blocked. Now, they do also want to know all the personal details of everyone that uses what is left of it. One can only imagine what can and may be cross checked. blogger.com, where I write this blog, is for instance blocked. So is Norwegian Broadcasting Corporations website, Facebook and Twitter. The solution is to use VPN. I don’t know if everything I do and surf on can still be tracked, but at least I could write this blog post. Korea, here we come. Land of the free. South Korea, that is.

I often hear that FM is cheaper than digital radio or mobile TV via DMB/DAB/DAB+. This is often argued, especially when it comes to small local radios. Let us create a scenario. An FM vs DAB coverage comparison on a larger scale. Tinyville This little town has 10,000 inhabitants, all living within an area of 20 square kilometers. There is a small hill on one side where the local radio station, TinyFM, has a transmitter and an antenna which has beamed out it’s programs for years. TinyFM is however not very financially stable. The only revenues come from some advertising and the weekly radio bingo, where the listeners buy bingo coupons and play for money prizes every Thursday eveneing. It is therefore important for them to keep all costs down. Will digital radio be more expensive than analogue for TinyFM? It will not, although this is a common misconception. FM costs TinyFM paid 3500 USD for it’s complete FM transission gear. They have one radio station on air and need the following: 1 transmitter / amplifier 1 VHF mask filter 1 VHF antenna Small bits and pieces What would it cost to do the same via DAB/DAB+? DMB/DAB/DAB+ costs We would need the same kind of stuff, although not identical gear: 1 transmitter / amplifier 1 VHF mask filter 1 VHF antenna Small bits and pieces And some more: 1 server 1 front-end European Broadcasting Union showed such a DMB/DAB/DAB+ setup at a conference in Belfast in October, 2010. The costs? 4 800 USD. That is 37% more expensive than FM. But there is a major difference: For FM one transmitter/amplifier is needed per radio station. For DMB/DAB/DAB+, you can have over 20 radio stations, 6 mobile TV channels or a mixture of mobile TV schannels and radio stations. The moment you decide to transmit two radio stations, the costs go down to 2 400 USD per station. With 15 radio stations the cost will be 320 USD per station. That is 9% of the cost of one FM station (or a 90% discount). The prices here are for the equipment, not for running costs. Electricity costs are similar on the transmission side as long as there’s only one radio station. The moment you introduce more stations (as you can do digitally), electricity used per station will decline dramatically. TinyFM will therefore encounter a little higher costs for transmission gear, although not substantially. The moment they start an extra station which could boost listenership and revenues, they should benefit. TinyFM may however not have the staffing nor the potential advertising revenues that may justify another station. In that case, they may want to stay with FM, something that governments in both Norway and the UK have opened up for. They will not put pressure on local radio stations to move away from FM, but they may see the benefits and decide to do this themselves. Friends on technology, foes on content This is something that broadcasters in several countries have discovered, although on a much larger scale than in Tinyville. In i.e. Norway, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands competing broadcasters have decided to join forces. They cooperate on technology and compete on content. That is obviously a win win situation financially due to lower actual costs. By cooperating on the same mux, all costs can be devided between several companies. Instead of having to pay everything yourself (equipment, installation costs, running costs, internet / radio lines, etc.) this can now be divided by 2, 3, 4 or split between even more companies. Big savings, in other words. But there are also other benefits: It is greener as one network will serve everyone. Hosting can be done more efficiently and secure. Marketing is more efficient. Competitors can help each other in getting people to get DMB/DAB/DAB+ receivers with the benefits and possibilities they give. A clearer message is carried across. One organization can easier coordinate towards the government, network operators, bureaucracy, etc. This makes communication and formal processes easier and faster.

Digital radio via DAB will cease to exist in Singapore from December 1, 2011 it was reported today. That must be a major blow to those of us that promote DMB/DAB/DAB+, right? Not at all. There is no drama here, as I will explain, although those opposing DAB will probably use this for what they think it is worth. There are several reasons why Singapore switches off DAB, a little over 10 years after their first broadcast. None of them are dramatic to DMB/DAB/DAB+ elsewhere. 1. Singapore is one of the very smallest country in the world, measuring only 693 square kilometers. That means that FM can cover the island state with a few transmitters per radio station. There is therefore not much money, in real terms, to save. 2. DAB has been a little on and off in Singapore. That means that there hasn’t been much reliability for listeners. If there is no security, fewer of them will buy receivers. The government never initiated a switch off date for FM, nor a clear policy on the matter. 3. The available bandwidth has not been used efficiently. There has been 13 radio stations on air. In addition there are over 20 data services available, although these have been available to few people due to lack of compatible devices. The high number of services has affected sound quality and it has been like wasting bandwidth. 4. There are no stations available only via DAB. The 13 stations are all simulcast with FM, something that does not give people much of an incentive to buy DAB radios. 5. Media laws in Singapore are strict. They do have freedom of speech in theory and in their constitution. But reports say differently: “Freedom of speech is abysmal at best.” Abysmal? It means “extremely or hopelessly bad or severe.” Why would the government open up for a technology that gives listeners a wider range of choice, and potentially more critical news reports, if they can limit this effectively by limiting bandwidt as they are essentially doing by staying with FM? 6. The DAB network in Singapore seems to have been built in a less than ideal manner so that coverage is not great in all areas. Such problems create insecurity among listeners and slows purchases and thus uptake of the technology. (This point has been made after feedback from readers of this blog post.) I still believe that this is a backward decision. DMB/DAB/DAB+ gives a wide range of opportunities and I have previously listed 21 reasons why FM should be switched off. Half a billion people in over 40 countries are covered by DMB, DAB and/or DAB+ signals. My guess is that Singapore will launch DMB/DAB/DAB+ yet again within three years, although then better planned. FM may not be built very well either The following anonymous comments were posted to this blog post, allegedly from someone who knows Singapore. In one part of Singapore FM cannot be received for some technical reasons all of the signals are mixed up so no FM station is clear. […] This meant that a lot of people in the area went out and purchased very expensive DAB radios so they have radio. […] I think the radio company has conveniently forgotten about their problem with FM in our area.

On May 19, 2011 the Norwegian government passed a bill that states that FM will be switched off in June 2017. Both myself and others believed that this would influence other countries. And it has. Yesterday, Danish Minister of Culture, Mr. Uffe Elbæk stated that he wants to switch off FM in Denmark too. He wants to prioritize radio as a medium by speeding up digitalization, according to the radio oriented news site radionyt.com. He writes: “The DAB technology and internet radio give new possibilities to secure an increased diversity of nationwide and local radio offerings. Local and regional radio will be digitalized through DAB, and as was done in Norway, a switch off date for FM will be set.” It is not clear when the date will be determined or when switch off will occur. Other countries such as United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia do also aim for a switch off date for FM. The UK may be the first to switch off. They will switch off FM two years after 50% of all radio listening occurs digitally. It is now at almost 30%. If that is achieved before 2015, they can beat Norway to it as being the first country to switch off. Can Denmark do it even faster? The questions is now, which countries will follow suit?

Do you have an Iphone, Ipod or Ipad? Do you miss radio or TV on the device? A lot of I-owners seem to be very pleased with their devices, but a little annoyed that there are no radio or TV functionality built in. International DMB Advancement Group is cooperating with a Korean manufacturer to introduce a little dongle that plugs into Apple devices, directs the user to an app that instantly provides broadcasted radio and television to the device (via DMB/DAB/DAB+). Broadcasting means radio waves that distributes radio and mobile TV without an internet connection (just like to an traditional radio or television set). The dongle will therefore give you radio and TV without any costs or bandwidth constraints and without the need for an internet connection via Wi-Fi or 3G. The device comes with it’s own battery and can run off that one, run off the mother device’s battery or even provide extra battery capacity to the “mother ship.” The dongle’s own battery works for 4 hours with constant radio or TV usage. I was demonstrating the dongle at IFA, the world’s biggest consumer electronics event which is being organized in Berlin every September. Virtually everyone that tested the device wanted one. Instantly. Like selling flowers to unfaithful husbands or umbrellas in Bergen, rain capital of the world. Except for the fact that I only had a few demo sets available, none which were for sale. I was offered cash, cheques and even drinks in return for one of my few demo sets. I had to decline and rather tell them that the device will be sold shortly around Europe. The device will probably sell for 49-59 Euros. I would like to perform a little temperature measurement. Would you buy this dongle, which comes in black or white? Please comment below or send me an email. This will help IDAG (an organization which I head) plan distribution around the world. Do note that IDAG is a non-profit organization that works to promote, facilitate and coordinate DMB/DAB/DAB+ activities world wide. IDAG does not make money on this or other similar devices.

It has been over five months since I wrote about the first combination tablet being produced. The device in question is the Identity E201, a 7 inch Android tablet made by Enspert in Korea. It has been through some production delays, but it is finally being field tested in Norway, Germany, Netherlands and Italy with promising results. I’ll cover the most relevant specs. The Identity E201 can receive mobile television and digital radio via DMB, DAB and DAB+ in Band III. The tablet has been approved by Google, so Android Market is available and the built-in GPS works well with Google Maps. It comes with Wi-Fi, but not yet with 3G. To get 3G, you will have to wait for it’s sister model, the Identity E303 which will be available later in 2011. What makes the device exciting is the combination of broadcasting (DMB/DAB/DAB+) and the internet (Wi-Fi). That means that you can watch live broadcasted TV while interacting with others through chat, Facebook or Twitter, receive breaking news through an RSS feed, get on-demand access the last or next episode of the programme you have just been watching and take part in on screen voting. Everything is accessed through an app, the beta version of which has now been launched. The examples above have already been implemented as pictured in this blog post, but there are virtually no limitations to which services you can add to live radio or TV programmes with such tablets when the API to the DMB/DAB/DAB+ chipset is available. The Dutch distributor Rebox takes orders on these devices which will be available for delivery by the end of September. You can read more about availability on the on the website of IDAG (International DMB Advancement Group).