As Commercial Radio Australia lobbies the Federal Government for millions of dollars in funding, new research shows more people in the UK are buying an analogue radio than a digital radio.The UK research reveals that despite extensive lobbying for digital radio consumers prefer to stick to FM radio.
In Australia digital radio is suffering from poor reception and in many areas there is no reception.
In metropolitan areas such as the Sydney CBD and hilly areas digital radio owners are struggling to lock onto a signal as we found recently at the Pure digital radio launch, which was held in the Sydney CBD.
Australian motorists travelling between capital cities are also unable to get access to digital radio due to a lack of towers, despite automotive manufacturers like BMW moving to build digital radio into Australian cars as standard as of next year.
UK communications regulator Ofcom said that with millions continuing to buy traditional sets the ‘aspirational’ target of 2015 to move all major stations off FM and AM and on to digital looks unlikely.
Ofcom said that only 1.9million digital radios were sold in the year to the end of March 2011. This compares with 6.6million analogue sets.
In Australia Commercial radio is claiming that 700,000 digital radios have been sold since the service was launched 2 years ago.
According to the Daily Mail critics praised the report for ‘shining a light on a shambles’ and said the sales figures showed that any hope of hitting the 2015 date was now ‘dead in the water’.
In the UK Digital sales were down from 2.1million in 2009 and then dropped to 1.9million last year and were flat again this year. The report also found that less than 1 per cent of vehicles are fitted with a DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) radio. And 51 per cent of those without the new technology were not likely to purchase a DAB set in the next 12 months.
Many of those who were unlikely to buy a digital radio said they felt there was ‘no need’. Many were happy with the current service, others blamed the cost or poor reception and some said they could access radio through their digital TV.
The lack of interest comes despite the average price paid for a DAB radio set has been dropping.
Commercial Radio Australia was not available to comment.
