Crisis talks regarding the future of DAB Digital Radio in the UK have been taking place at RadioCentre – with senior figures in the industry all debating what measures should be taken to ensure the survival of the medium.
Proposed solutions, according to a report this morning in the FT, could include the possibility that Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and Five Live would gradually switch to DAB only, albeit over a long time period.
"Without these kinds of measures, if you leave it to the market, then the switchover to digital radio is going to take a long time," one senior figure told the FT, adding that talks were shrouded in secrecy. And it is certainly going to be too long from a commercial radio point of view."
The talks, still at an early stage, started as GCap Media announced their plans at the beginning of February to close Planet Rock and theJazz.
The [link=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7791a438-ea56-11dc-b3c9-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1]report[/link] goes on to talk about the possibility of using the £250 million left over from the £800m digital television switch-over budget provided by the government.
