How DAB+ can help secure radio’s future in the Caribbean

The future of radio was the main topic of discussion in a webinar hosted by the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) on Thursday 12 April 2018. Speakers from across the DAB+ industry presented an overview to delegates from the Caribbean region on DAB+ and how broadcasters can secure their future in an increasingly competitive market, by growing audiences and expanding their portfolio by moving to digital.

Sonia Gill, Secretary General of the CBU and Gary Allen, CEO of the RJR-Gleaner Group in Jamaica, and President of CBU welcomed participants and introduced the speakers, who included Bernie O’Neill of WorldDAB, Ben Poor of European Broadcasting Union, Gabriel Palmeri of Gates Air, Yvette Dore of Digital Radio UK and Jacqueline Bierhorst of Digital Radio NL.
Participants included representatives from CBU member countries, the Caribbean Community Intra Governmental Grouping CARICOM and the Caribbean Telecoms Union.  With the ongoing digitisation of TV and FM spectrum being full, broadcasters were interested to hear about business models offered by DAB+ for radio broadcasters in smaller markets (populations of 10k to 3m), revenue opportunities from digital radio, and policy and legislative measures required to introduce DAB+.
Topics covered in the webinar included a global update on DAB+ deployments, a technical overview of the DAB+ standard, and the economics of delivering radio via DAB+ compared with FM or IP.
Case studies of nationwide DAB+ deployments in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands covered how industry collaboration facilitated the successful rollout of digital radio in those countries, how to make sure DAB receivers, including cars, are available to listeners.
In the Netherlands DAB+ covers 95% of the population and there has been a high volume of DAB receivers sold to listeners.  The UK Government and regulator facilitated a successful launch of small-scale DAB services, to complement that national and regional DAB networks, making it easier for small scale broadcasters to migrate to DAB with new trials and initiatives
F..Bernie O’Neill, Project Director, WorldDAB