Media regulator Ofcom has issued a progress update on the roll out of small-scale DAB multiplexes across the UK.
So far 115 licences have been awarded with 64 new multiplexes now on air. Small-scale DAB multiplexes carry digital radio services that otherwise might not be able to launch on DAB digital radio. Community radio stations, local commercial stations and specialist music services are able to broadcast digitally on the smaller multiplexes which offer a smaller coverage area and lower costs.
Radio stations like BBC Radio Newcastle and Heart North East are available on multiplexes like ‘Tyne & Wear’, with coverage from Alnwick to Durham city and available to hundreds of thousands of listeners. Small-scale multiplexes like those in Newcastle and Gateshead or Tynemouth and South Shields allow radio stations to broadcast to their audience in a smaller local area.
Ofcom has now completed five rounds of licensing with a sixth round underway. The regulator awarded the first licences in March 2021. So far 212 applications have been received for the 167 areas advertised. So far 64 multiplexes have been launched from the 115 successful applicants. Small-scale DAB applicants have 18 months to launch their multiplex from the award of the licence.
Locally oriented services, both community and commercial, make up the largest category of unique stations at 43% of the 590 services being carried so far. Ofcom says there are a significant number of specialist music services (29%), stations targeting minority ethnic and faith communities (17%), and lifestyle or life-stage stations (9.5%).
Applications submitted in round six of the small-scale DAB multiplex licensing are currently being assessed. Two more rounds of licensing will be conducted, including areas where a licensee has failed to launch or where there were no applications.
While some areas have seen more than one application to operate a small-scale DAB multiplex, in others there has been a single application.
Ofcom’s report lists areas where no application was made. Four separate licences have been advertised in Suffolk, in Central Suffolk, Great Yarmouth & Lowestoft, Haverhill and Ipswich & Felixstowe, but with no applications for any of the areas the county remains without any small-scale DAB multiplex.
This could be because it is not economically viable to launch a multiplex, for example if there are insufficient services to pay for carriage on the multiplex.
Groups have mentioned in their applications to Ofcom that they had ‘Heads of Agreements’ or ‘Heads of Terms’ with radio stations who would be interested in joining the multiplex. One such multiplex currently carries 9 services compared to 20 with which it had such agreements, while another provides carriage to 6 stations, compared to 18 listed in the application.
This week Ofcom has awarded the first licences in round six in the areas of Bournemouth & Boscombe; Isle of Wight; Poole, Purbeck & Wimborne; and Warminster, Devizes & Trowbridge.