Tuesday, August 22, 2006

DRM Chairman: Market to decide survival of digital system

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, August 14th:
With so many digital distribution systems available these days, the market will eventually decide which systems are economically viable and which will survive, Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Chairman, Peter Senger, told broadcasters today.

Speaking at the ABU Digital Radio Convention, Mr Senger, who is also the DRM Director of DW-Germany, said budget limitations made it very difficult for broadcasters to use every new system and decide later which ones to keep.

He said systems such as Eureka-147 DAB, DRM, HD Radio and DVB-H all had their respective advantages, and their usage should not be uniform among broadcasters across the Asia-Pacific region.

Another approach to going digital, Mr Senger added, was to look for the digital replacement of existing analogue networks and operate them for some time in parallel or simulcast mode.

The analogue system would be later switched off when a certain market penetration had been reached.

"The savings in full digital mode can finance the higher operational costs
during transition and the investments," he said.

Full report:
http://tinyurl.com/ltex3
(via Mike Barraclough-UK, Aug 15/WWDXC Top News)