BBC

Because the BBC is a stakeholder in the DAB format and in digital radio. It is not as far as I know advertising any particular product, just the platform. Some of the licence fee was set aside (on orders of the government and the BBC Trust) to educate the public on both digital radio and TV.

The BBC used to advertise colour TV (note, colour TV, not colour TVs) and Nicam stereo back in the day.

AROK

I wonder if anyone's calculated the increase in Co2 emissions due to the introduction of DAB. Apparently the a DAB radio uses more power than analogue and whoever sanctioned encouraging the listening of BBC radio via a TV needs their head testing. How much Co2 does that generate.

FC there's this interesting link from five years ago. Apparently DAB used to use more power than FM. No idea what the situation is now though...

click here

Are the BBC behind the push for DAB?

Stereo broadcasting and DAB are both abominations and should never have been advocated by an organisation that aspires to what the BBC ought to be.

ATB from George

I purchased a Roberts analogue personal radio six months, I did consider a DAB and must admit the complaints concerning battery life of DAB seemed to have died down a lot. It's probably not a major issue anymore. But advances in efficiency have also been made with analogue, my new Roberts is over twice as efficient as the Roberts I bought 25 years ago.

If your talking about stereo TV I would agree, early NICAM TV's where dreadful with regards to sound quality.

No.

The government is, though, because it wants to sell off the analogue spectrum.

So why is the BBC pushing it on Radio, unless the BBC itself is an arm of the Government  which the BBC and most sensible people would say it is not?

A curiosity for sure.

ATB from George

The BBC does not make broadcasting policy, the government does.

The BBC has however been charged by the BBC Trust to help "educate" the public about DAB (and soon, I would imagine, internet radio).  Like many broadcasters, it is also a DAB stakeholder - it has a number of digital-only stations, two of which (6Music and Radio 4 Extra) are excellent. Maybe it's not so curious.

The govt would love to force us all to go digital and flog off the spectrum - fortunately there is a good deal of concerted opposition to such a move and the govt have still not committed to an analogue radio switch-off. The environmental costs - there are around 115 million analogue radios in the UK and all of them would become redundant and would have to be thrown away - would be unacceptable.

Personally, I think DAB, a lossy and rather aged format, as a radio carrier is doomed - internet radio (and hi-def internet radio in particular) are probably the way forward. And linear FM will broadcasting  will continue to exist, as a kind of radio equivalent of vinyl, enjoyed by a niche audience of enthusiasts.

Dear Kevin,

I reckon that DAB is doomed, and the engineers at the BBC knew that from the start, but hidef internet radio may well be the way forward.

It is far better to listen to 320 AAC Radio Three than its DAB equivalent ...

So why is the BBC not airing the issue? Everything they broadcast is on the net, and if they dropped DAB they could probably put everything out on the net at Radio Three HD standards of quality, which in my view is better than VHF in any case.

Then the VHF space can go commercial for all I - or most people - could care ...

ATB from George

George,

You might like to read this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec...s-to-go-digital.html

KR

Tony

So the BBC are pushing it!

ATB from George

“I don’t think switchover is about forcing people to do what they do not want to do. It has to be earned…However, the case for digital switchover has become clearer over the last year.”

Dear, George.

BBC6 radio listeners stopped it from closing down and, as a license  payer myself, I am quite happy contributing from my to their choice.

It's called democracy, George!

KR

Tony

Well Pepsi Tim certainly was! I understand, from one of my contacts within Auntie, that Timbo got a bit of a telling off for talking out of hand and appearing to favour a particular format far too much.

Under the terms of its charter the BBC is obliged to make its TV and radio programming available by as many means as possible - TV, internet, satellite, cable, DAB, MW, SW, LW, FM, and mobile  - so that licence payers have a choice of ways with which to consume the output.

You or I may not like DAB but by broadcasting on it Auntie is merely doing what she is obliged to do - but I agree with your earlier post, I don't know why they don't advertise the fact that the BBC has a great high-quality internet radio service either.

I like bbc4 extra, radio 5 and bbc 6 ... I can listen to them in the car .. Unlike the pointless BT vision the BBC provides content that is interesting 

Imo It is because the BBC is a major stakeholder in DAB, but this should not overide that they are a non-commercial public broadcaster who are not allowed to advertise on their channels, iirc they got into trouble a few years ago for advertising the Radiotimes and it's contence.

Chris N

Chris

You misunderstand. They did indeed get in trouble for advertising BBC mags such as Radio Times, Gardeners' World, Top Gear etc and were ordered to stop. This was because they were using BBC airtime to advertise specific products that had commercial competitors - which is against the spirit, if not also the letter, of the Charter.

However in this case they are not actually advertising any product. They are advertising to (or "educating") the public about digital radio. They were instructed to do so by The Trust, and indeed this form of educative or "informational broadcasting" both falls within the Charter and could be seen as a requirement under it (think of all those short public information films it broadcasts).

The BBC had much the same role during the digital TV switchover.

Thanks for the info Kevin, I now see what you you are getting at?

Coming up to 70 and no sign of a extra brain cell.

Chris N