3 February 2005
Sales of DAB digital radios in Europe are showing encouraging signs as the UK tops 1.2 million units in homes at the end of 2004.
The United Kingdom has historically been several years ahead of the rest of the world in the roll out and adoption of DAB digital radio. Four years ago, penetration of DAB digital radios in the UK was just 35,000. Today its 1.272 million. Many international markets are experiencing similar sales trends as the UK, as promotion is stepped up and receivers are made available on the high streets. Sales in the UK showed an increase of 122% in 2002/2003; and 178% in 2003/2004. Comparatively, Denmark has shown an increase of 525% in 2003/2004, and Belgium a 400% in the same period.
Kevin Dale, president of market leading DAB digital radio manufacturer PURE Digital, says: “Sales of PURE DAB radios in Europe have started to show significant progress with key territories including Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland and Norway. We are also seeing DAB gaining in popularity in countries outside Europe, such as Singapore and Australia. As the right products are becoming available in these countries we have begun to see the same pick up in public interest in DAB that we saw in the UK 18 months ago. We expect that in 2005 Germany, Sweden, Holland, Italy and other European countries will also begin to take DAB to heart.”
Denmark is a microcosmic example of how market growth can expand when the right elements are in place. With 80% population coverage, nearly 20 services broadcasting on DAB, a vigorous marketing campaign from broadcaster Danmarks Radio, and point-of-sale in stores for the first time, 40,000 DAB digital radios were sold in 2004, up from 6,400 at the beginning of the year.
Says Thomas Schwartz, director of Gizmolink, a distributor of technology products in Denmark: In November and December, DAB really took off. Sales in the New Year are continuing and Gizmolink are expecting to sell another 20,000 in 2005. Already in January we have sold 2,500 units.
Interest in other countries is also growing, with Norway reporting sales of just over 4,000 units in December. With 70% coverage (growing to 80% within two years) and plans to switch some popular FM services over to DAB only reception, the DAB market in Norway is expected to boom in 2005. Already there is strong interest from retailers where sales are reported to be exceeding expectations since promotions began on 1st December. Some shops sold out of DAB products over Christmas, and broadcasters NRK and P4 are experiencing good listener feedback.
There are positive signs in Belgium, which has an estimated base of 30,000 units sold, up from just 6,000 at the end of 2003. Holland is another emerging DAB market, as is Singapore where manufacturers teamed up with retailers and broadcasters to present a series of consumer roadshows, raising awareness of DAB in November and December last year.
While the actual sales figures in all these (and more) markets may be small, it is important to remember that serious promotion of DAB digital radio has not been possible until sufficient coverage and unique content were in place to engage the consumer. Now, broadcasters around the world have risen to the challenge of both delivering and marketing a new radio technology. Manufacturers, too, are recognising the promising rewards of overseas markets.
With more than 300 million people around the world estimated to be within range of a DAB digital radio transmitter, the potential for growth is enormous.
1 February 2005
NBC Affiliate Advertising and Promotion Services (AAPS), part of The NBC Agency, the internal advertising agency for NBC Universal, has signed a long-term contract with Teletrax to electronically track network promotional material aired by U.S. television stations. Teletrax, a subsidiary of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated, is the first and only global digital video monitoring and media asset management service. NBC Universal is a unit of General Electric.
The NBC Agency facilitates the promotional and advertising needs of all NBC Universal-owned television entities including NBC network entertainment, news, sports and corporate divisions, as well as its cable, Internet, and syndicated properties. As part of an initiative to better serve its NBC-owned and affiliate stations, AAPS will employ Teletraxs technology to help assess the effectiveness of its marketing efforts by tracking local television airings of network promotion spots in the top 100 U.S. markets.
We are excited to be partnering with Teletrax, said Scot Chastain, vice president of NBC AAPS. To be able to track and value almost instantaneously the material we are sending out will make us even more effective on bigger, long-term projects. We expect Teletrax to help the stations and The NBC Agency increase their effectiveness in promoting the network.
The NBC Agency has played an integral role in NBCs enduring programming success, and Teletrax is excited to help it continue its record of achievement, said Andy Nobbs, managing director of Teletrax. We are pleased that The NBC Agency has joined other leading media organizations, among them NBC Universal Television Distribution and NBC News Channel, two other units of NBC Universal, in recognizing Teletrax as an essential business management tool. With The NBC Agencys addition to its roster of blue-chip clients, Teletrax has established the industry standard for the marketing and promotion community.
Launched in 2002 as a service developed by a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands and Medialink, with an underlying technology that is patent protected both by Philips and Digimarc Corp., Teletraxs technology embeds an imperceptible and indelible digital watermark into video whenever it is edited, transmitted, broadcast or duplicated.
A global network of decoders or detectors, then captures all occurrences of the embedded video being transmitted via satellite, cable or terrestrially and generates tracking reports for the content owners. Reports of individual broadcast airings are delivered online in near real-time to each clients custom-designed portal or in data file transfers. Each clients broadcast activity is updated dynamically, 24 hours a day, enabling clients to respond immediately to reported results such as changes in end-user preferences or detections of unauthorized use.
Teletrax maintains a proprietary network of detectors that monitor the television broadcasts of more than 700 television stations in the top 100 markets in the United States, representing more than 85% of all television households. Its international network is comprised of 12 monitoring stations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South and Central America, which monitor over 200 channels being broadcast from nearly 50 nations.
The NBC Agency joins a growing list of leading entertainment, news and media organizations that have contracted with Teletrax to track broadcast video content, either in the United States exclusively or globally, which includes: BBC, Buena Vista Television, ABC Television Network, Tribune Entertainment, NBC Universal Television Distribution, NBC News Channel, Reuters Television, Medialink and Australian-based Media Review International. A number of other entertainment, news and media companies are also currently testing the Teletrax service.
1 February 2005
Building on its leadership in digital radio technology, Texas Instruments Incorporated is working with RadioScape to develop the necessary hardware and software to support Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM). Leveraging its vast technical expertise in Eureka Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) technology, TI will supply the necessary digital signal processor (DSP) -based digital radio silicon along with RadioScape’s software radio technology. Together these companies will offer a cost-effective platform for designing consumer receivers. (See www.ti.com/dr12)
“The announcement from Texas Instruments and RadioScape regarding their new DRM technology is a major milestone for the DRM consortium,” said Peter Senger, director of distribution at Deutsche Welle and chairman of the DRM consortium. “Coupling TI’s position as a global leader in the semiconductor industry with RadioScape’s expertise in digital radio software brings invaluable resources to the DRM market. We believe their commitment to DRM will help drive its commercial success in the coming years – repeating their success at driving the DAB market by enabling a wide variety of receivers to be made at easily affordable prices.”
DRM is the only universal, non-proprietary digital AM radio system for short-wave, medium-wave and long-wave with near-FM quality sound available to markets worldwide. By exploiting the reach of these frequencies, DRM complements DAB to provide digital reception anywhere in the world. This capability enables broadcasters to launch exciting new services and allows listeners to hear their favorite short-wave, medium-wave/AM or long-wave broadcasts with considerably improved quality. More than 65 leading broadcasters have begun transmitting live, daily or weekly DRM broadcasts and special programs. The list includes international broadcasters as well as national radio networks and local radio stations both commercial and public. Combining DAB and DRM into new receivers will extend the range of digital stations and services available, even further enabling broadcasters to reach new audiences with innovative digital services anywhere in the world.
“We know what it takes to succeed in an emerging digital radio market,” says Les Mable, business development manager for Digital Radio at TI. “TI is committed to the promising new DRM market and will leverage our expertise to help provide the innovation required to speed its rapid adoption. The use of RadioScapes software-defined radio solutions will allow a single cost-effective hardware platform to receive DRM, DAB, FM and AM broadcasts.”
Nigel Oakley, RadioScapes VP of Marketing, adds, RadioScapes unique software approach provides the flexibility that customers require, especially for an emerging technology. New features, customized variants and changes in standards can all be easily done via our software running on TIs programmable solution, unlike an ASIC chip that requires slow and expensive mask re-spins. Our experience in creating innovative DAB software solutions has made RadioScape one of the world leaders in Software-Defined Digital Radio and will enable us to create a similar success for DRM.
Formed in 1998, the DRM Consortium has defined a universal, non-proprietary digital system for providing near-FM quality sound on the broadcasting bands below 30 MHz. With members in more than 25 nations, DRM has wide support from broadcasters. Applications include fixed and portable radios, car receivers, software receivers and PDAs. With some broadcasters already on air, the initial deployment of receivers is expected to start in the UK, Germany and France. DRM enables a single tower to broadcast over a huge geographic area, so listeners all over Europe can receive the same station. DRM is expected to drive expansion of the under-30 MHz radio market, bringing new content to larger audiences while fitting within the current broadcast band plan. Many existing transmitters can be easily modified with an inexpensive upgrade to carry DRM signals. ( www.drm.org )
31 January 2005
At a signing ceremony in Beijing, China Radio International (CRI) has renewed and extended its agreement with WRN, the London-based international broadcaster and transmission service provider, for the extensive provision of global broadcast services. The new contract was signed by CRI Vice President, Mr Xia Jixuan and WRN Chairman, Mr Karl Miosga, at CRIs headquarters on 9th December 2004.
WRN has worked closely with CRI for more than six years since signing a Collaboration Agreement in Beijing in 1999. WRN works on CRIs behalf, distributing its daily programmes to reach listeners around the world using AM and FM transmissions that augment CRIs traditional Short Wave broadcasting from China. CRIs daily programmes can be heard on FM in Berlin and Moscow and on AM in London, St Petersburg, across Western Europe, South West Russia, Ukraine and Romania. WRN identifies the most appropriate transmitters, undertakes local negotiations and monitors the output for CRI.
Furthermore CRIs daily programmes in English, French, German and Russian can be heard on WRNs international news networks, distributed around the world via satellite, cable, local FM relays, wireless applications and the Internet.
After the signing ceremony, Mr Karl Miosga, WRNs Chairman, said: WRN is honoured to have signed a new agreement expanding its cooperation with CRI. 2004 saw significant growth in both local and new media outlets that carry CRI programmes. WRNs networks distribute CRI on key platforms such as Sirius satellite radio in the USA which has now achieved over 1 million subscribers, and Sky digital which is reaching over 8 million homes in the UK and Ireland. 2005 is going to be an exciting year full of new developments and WRN looks forward to bringing these to CRI. After the signing ceremony WRN met with Mr Wang Gengnian, the new Director General of China Radio International, to discuss issues of mutual interest to the two organisations.
31 January 2005
RadioScape has announced that it is expanding its business to include the direct supply of its award winning DAB modules. Until now, the company licensed the designs for these modules to third party manufacturers who built and supplied the modules to the radio OEMs.
Orders will now be placed directly with RadioScape who will control the supply chain right through to delivery to the customer. This will enable significant savings to be made on the costs of the modules that can be passed on to customers. New modules can also be brought to market far faster. The manufacturing will be done by a subcontractor in China, Nam Tai Electronics Inc, that is a well established, high volume manufacturer for major international consumer electronics companies and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (www.namtai.com ). RadioScape is increasing its investment in its Hong Kong operations with the addition of a new team which will be responsible for local liaison with customers and the manufacturing facility in China. RadioScapes highly successful Customisation Group is also being expanded with new personnel in Hong Kong to create additional facilities for custom software and hardware to provide differentiation and innovation.
This is a strategic change in our business model, said John Hall, RadioScapes CEO. DAB is enjoying a phenomenal growth which is creating a drive for innovation and cost reduction. By extending our product customisation services and having complete control of the supply chain, we can deliver major benefits to customers in both these areas as well as being able to shorten delivery times. Customers want a one stop shop, added Nigel Oakley, RadioScapes VP of Marketing. Now they have one point of contact for custom software, hardware design and ordering goods. This integrated approach will significantly improve the time to market for new radios, make it much easier to innovate and differentiate, as well as simplifying the supply chain and driving down end user prices.
