SBS chief, Nigel Milan, says although Australia is dragging the chain with digital radio, this is not necessarily a disadvantage.
Speaking at the recent Australian Broadcasting Summit in Sydney, Milan predicted digital technology would provide an exciting future for broadcasters and listeners, with individual – rather than collective – audience demands being met.
He says digitisation is revolutionising the world: “It gives us the power to watch or listen to what we want, when we want, wherever we want.
“But, it’s changing much more than the way we use our time. It’s changing
the structure of broadcasting and throwing up questions about content,
about meeting people’s needs and expectations, and broadcasters’
responsibilities.
“Too often, the digital dialogue is dominated by talk of commercial
opportunities, rather than broadcasting responsibilities. In the hoopla and hyperbole about digital, we hear a lot about ‘choice’ and very little about
‘quality’.
“As with television, digital has the potential to transform the radio
experience for listeners and broadcasters. There will be better sound, more services and a range of other features, including images and text information, such as song titles and news, weather and sports updates.”
Milan says unlike TV, which is heading down the straight, digital radio is
still in the starting blocks: “Australia is not a frontrunner in digital radio development – no one can deny that – but, in a way, that’s to our
advantage. It gives us the opportunity to learn from others, and that’s
exactly what we’re doing.
“In Britain, for the first time, digital radios outsold traditional
analogue receivers during the pre-Christmas spending spree. Listeners
there, and elsewhere in Europe, can hear an ever expanding variety of
digital broadcasts.”
Milan went on to question the digital radio trials in Sydney and Melbourne,
being conducted by Commercial Radio Australia and Broadcast Australia
respectively: “Is this really the ideal way to trial a new technology?
The ideal is for a single trial, with all participants testing all options
and sharing knowledge freely. Everyone could move in the same direction and
knowing – roughly – where they are heading.
“Ideally, it could take place in an atmosphere of shared commitment from
everyone – the industry, regulators and government. I say ‘ideally’ because
it’s naive to think that even on such an important matter, self interest
could be set aside in our competitive broadcast environment.
Milan concluded by saying: “two trials, two cities, two groups listening to the ‘future’, but each comparing it to a different ‘present’!
Also at the Broadcasting Summit, CRA’s Joan Warner called on government and regulators to support the incumbent digital radio industry “in its very real efforts to move forward with digital technology” by quarantining Band III and Lband spectrum for the migration of radio broadcasters.
In her speech, she outlined progress in the past 12 months of the digital radio trials and pushed for government support into the future.
Warner says the decision to undertake the trial in Sydney, Australia’s most problematic licence area, was deliberate, because if digital radio is robust enough to work in Sydney, without interference, it should work anywhere.
The trials will soon move into a second phase with more webpage-like content available on the digital radio screen and a new generation of receivers with bigger screens and in mobile phones.