I’m posting this just after attending a Parliamentary Reception for digital radio. The BBC, commercial radio and Government spoke about digital radio’s successes which included:

• 50% of listeners tuning to digital radio every week
• 40% of all new cars have digital radio as standard
• Growing local and national DAB coverage

On the last point, you might have seen that Nicky’s just posted status updates for the Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and Mid and West Wales multiplexes in the blog. We’re pleased with the progress that we’re making with these, even if we have to jump through some new hoops that BT have put in our way.

Geting multiplexes on-air involves many different people and organisations including Ofcom, service providers and transmitters contractors but also site owners and the people that own all the different fibre and copper between stations and transmitters.  And if you’ve had trouble changing broadband providers, you know what dealing with different telecoms companies is like. A multiplex launch is a bit like doing 20 of those simultaneously.

We are excited about taking our multiplex network from 1 to 4 by September – it’s a busy time, but we’re looking forward to bringing more digital radio to people across the country. We should have some Surrey news in the coming weeks and then later on further information about our other areas. The launch of four networks this year puts us ahead of what Ofcom asked us to launch as part of the MoU discussions and we continue to work on ways to develop sustainable businesses for all of our licence areas.