Switzerland: Digital radio: The magic million

DAB+ digital radio (Digital Audio Broadcasting) is proving extraordinarily popular in Switzerland.

July 2012 saw the sale of the one millionth digital radio, taking the audience to some 2.4 million, or just under a third of all Swiss households. This makes Switzerland one of the leading countries in Europe when it comes to digital radio.

The advantages of the latest radio technology are clearly making it more and more popular. Digital radio listeners profit from a wider variety of radio stations, crystal-clear sound quality, interference-free reception and easy-to-use radios, with attractive additional text and picture services coming soon. Depending on language region, digital radio listeners in Switzerland have a choice of between 13 and 31 stations, and new ones are being added all the time. The third DAB+ transmitter network in German speaking Switzerland will make it possible to broadcast regional and local stations digitally. It is currently being rolled out in phases, and will be used by both private radio stations and SRG's regional magazine programmes. First-phase transmitters for the Zurich-Aargau-Glarus-Schaffhausen region will go on air in December 2012. A second DAB+ network is planned for French-speaking Switzerland.

Digital radio has been launched in many EU countries and worldwide – such as in Australia – in recent years. Its adoption in Germany, the key European market for DAB+, in August 2011, brought with it a further increase in the variety of radios available. In the Swiss market, there are now around 50 manufacturers offering over 200 different models in every price range.

DAB+ will replace FM in the long term. This will benefit broadcasters and their listeners alike, because transmission costs for digital radio stations are only around 20% of those for FM services. Digital radio is also better for the environment along the entire value chain. Each station needs only 10 percent of the energy consumed by FM radio listening, partly because only 210 transmitters are needed for 18 stations in Switzerland. By comparison, 853 are currently needed for just four FM stations.

For more information and press images: www.mcdt.ch/en/media, www.digitalradio.ch

Please also contact: Béatrice Merlach, CEO MCDT, Tel. 044 366 11 47, beatrice.merlach@mcdt.ch

(Source : MCDT AG Press Release, Switzerland via WorldDMB)