NZ Digitl Radio

[2NSW Sydney Radio Club (keitha) http://www.radio2doublev.org/]

Radio listeners may need two separate radios to tune into new public
and commercial channels, once the radio industry starts to switch to
digital broadcasting.

Aaron Olphert, business manager of state-owned transmission company
Kordia, says public and commercial radio stations have not agreed
which of two international standards they should back and are
trialling incompatible systems.

Kordia has been testing DAB digital radio broadcasts for more than a
year with nine stations, including National Radio, ConcertFM and the
BBC World Service.

But the Radio Broadcasting Association, whose members include New
Zealand's two largest commercial broadcasters, The Radio Network and
RadioWorks, have begun their own trials of the alternative HD radio
system.

Both DAB and HD radios can let people "pause and rewind" broadcasts
and select stations by name from an electronic programming guide, and
usually include a built-in FM tuner capable of picking up traditional
analogue broadcasts. They can also send still pictures that can be
displayed on screens built into digital radios, which could be of
interest to advertisers.

But DAB radios will not pick up HD broadcasts, or vice versa.

Financial self-interest rather than a debate about the respective
merits of the two technologies appears to be behind the separate
trials.

HD radio lets broadcasters squeeze three digital channels and a
conventional analogue station into the space previously required for a
single analogue station.

As there is no spare FM spectrum in many cities, HD radio would
protect the value of broadcasters' existing licences and make it more
difficult for new broadcasters to break in.

But commercial broadcasters counter that Kordia stands to profit from
the deployment of DAB and has made misleading statements about how
soon DAB could be deployed.

Mr Olphert says Kordia hopes to launch a digital service using the
latest version of DAB, DAB+, which is designed to pack more channels
into less radio spectrum while also providing better reception.

"Realistically, that is likely to be at the end of next year."

Commercial broadcasters are keeping their options open, he says, but
unless public and commercial broadcasters settle on the same
technology, the digital radio market may split in much the same way as
the cellphone market, where Telecom and Vodafone run different,
incompatible networks.

Kordia believes it makes sense to go with the DAB+ standard because DAB
+ radios are likely to be cheaper and more widely available than HD
radios, which are only widely available in the US. HD radios would
need to be adapted for New Zealand and require a royalty payment.

The cost of a basic DAB radio has fallen to 17 (NZ$45) in Britain and
public and commercial radio stations in Australia's six largest cities
will switch to DAB+ by January 2009, Mr Olphert says.

"Asia and Australia, our closest markets, are going to be using it. In
three or four years' time you should be able to buy a Holden or a Ford
with a DAB+ receiver built in."

Mr Olphert says HD radio may appeal to "incumbent" commercial
broadcasters because it uses FM frequencies they already own.

If they supported DAB+ they would need to acquire rights to "band
three" spectrum in the 170-240MHz range that have yet to be freed up
by the Government.

They might then face fresh competition from new broadcasters that are
shut out of the FM range in all major cities because of the lack of
spectrum.

In Australia, commercial broadcasters reached an agreement with the
Government that new broadcasters would not be able to access spectrum
for DAB+ broadcasts for five years following the switch to digital,
effectively placing a moratorium on new competition.

Mr Olphert would not comment on whether he believed the HD trials were
designed to put pressure on the Government here to negotiate a similar
outcome.

The Radio Network's director of engineering, Norm Collison, who is
leading the HD trials for the Radio Broadcasters Association, denies
that is the association's goal, saying that would be "drawing a very
long bow".

But he says that if DAB+ was to become the standard for digital radio
in New Zealand, commercial broadcasters would "unashamedly" seek
government funding, access to spectrum, and a moratorium on new
digital competition.

Mr Collison does not believe the radio industry will split.

He says commercial broadcasters also "favour the DAB route", but he
says Kordia has been "misleading broadcasters and the public" about
the availability of spectrum for DAB+, which he says could not be
freed up for digital radio till 2012.

"You can understand Kordia thinking DAB would be the way to go as it
would be a new revenue stream for them. You have to be a little
cautious about who is saying what."

Mr Collison says no one can forecast yet which type of radio will
become most widely available. The HD trials show the technology is
effective and HD radios are being developed for other trials in
countries such as Germany and Switzerland that could work in New
Zealand, he says.