When it comes to the digital transition, don’t forget about radio

More than 11 years after it was issued – and in the face of a stalled analog-to-digital switchover – the CRTC amended its Transitional Digital Radio Policy as part of the recent commercial radio policy review (CCR, Dec. 20/06). In revising the digital radio broadcasting (DRB) policy, the commission relied heavily on the suggestions of all parties who intervened in Public Notice 2006-160, with the main change being moving digital radio out of a transitional framework and licensing services under the same regulations as FM analog undertakings. However, the CRTC seems pessimistic that amending the policy will revive the stagnant digital radio industry. In fact, the commission noted in its decision "that these changes are no guarantee of success since many of the factors leading to the current state of L-Band DRB, such as the limited availability of receivers, remain." Wayne Stacey, a technical advisor to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and a consulting engineer with his own practice, is perhaps more optimistic about the potential impact of the new policy. "It is going to at least paint a clearer picture for the broadcasters of what they can do with digital technology, and that probably will help them a little bit in their long-term planning," he says, adding that on the whole, "broadcasters welcome the clarity that has come forward with this decision." But the fact that transitional digital radio policy was released in 1995, and that Stacey is still talking about long-term planning today, puts the pace of radio’s digital transition in stark contrast to that of television. Terrestrial digital radio, which is broadcast over the L-band in Canada, was initially seen as a replacement technology for existing AM and FM radio services. A number of factors, however, have slowed the transition to digital: very few other countries broadcast digital radio on the L-band, so receivers with both a French and English display had to be made exclusively for the Canadian market; service has thus far been limited to major metropolitan markets; and the transitional digital radio policy limited programming to simulcasts of existing AM and FM stations. The only real selling feature of digital radio was its CD-quality audio. Stacey says high-cost digital receivers that offered no additional programming to that of AM or FM radio clearly created a service dilemma for the industry, which is addressed somewhat under the amended framework. "Under the new service model, new digital radio licence holders will be free… to develop whatever broadcast services they believe will be of greatest interest to the listening public," reads the CRTC’s decision. Unfortunately, allowing terrestrial digital radio providers to offer new programming now puts them almost two years behind the competing subscription satellite radio services that were licensed in the spring of 2005 (CCR, July 22/05). "It might have been better for the broadcasters to have had this clearer picture before these competing services started," says Stacey. "Of course, satellite radio isn’t the only competing service…a lot of people are now getting radio services through the Internet as well and that is another element that is going to have to go into this strategic thinking." Perhaps adding to the confusion, the CRTC also left open the possibility of introducing In-Band-On-Channel (IBOC), an alternative digital radio platform, into Canada. The United States adopted IBOC as the technology to convert its radio stations from analog to digital, and interveners iBiquity Digital Corp. and the Ontario Independent Radio Group suggested that the technology would benefit the digital transition in Canada. In its decision, the commission allowed that it would be prepared to licence IBOC services if the technology was first authorized by Industry Canada. According to Stacey, the IBOC receivers that are available now in the US are actually more expensive than digital L-band radios, so the technology offers no economic incentive to consumers yet. But Stacey adds that technology in radios will eventually make the transmission platform moot, and that software-defined receivers will allow consumers to have one radio for all formats of radio broadcast. "You could easily have an AM, FM, DAB, IBOC and satellite radio receiver all in one box," he says. "That’s not a huge technical challenge to do right now." However, it’s questionable whether the providers of multiple competing services would co-operate on such a system. The fact that Stacey mentions AM and FM along with digital radio services is also telling about the prospects of a complete analog to digital migration. And, it raises the question: is an entire analog to digital transition, such as the one that is currently underway for television, likely to occur in radio as well? "We thought that as recently as five years ago, but I think everybody sees a pretty long-term future for analog radio," says Stacey. While the enhanced quality and options of digital television have certainly been part of its successful migration, America’s mandated 2009 analog shutdown date has certainly been the catalyst, in Canada as well as the US. And without a similar mandate for radio, digital offerings will continue to remain competing services to analog as long as market forces dictate. This is clearly reflected in the commission’s revised digital radio policy. "What is saying is ‘We’re doing this because the broadcasters think they might be able to make it work better and we’re prepared to go along with that, but there’s no guarantee it will,’" says Stacey. "It all comes down to the public…Are they going to find these services attractive? Are they going to invest in receivers?"

When it comes to the digital transition, don’t forget about radio

Broadcast | January 16, 2007

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