Re: Ofcom..
So you're saying that Ofcom believed that analogue radio was going to die out very soon (despite massive opposition for a switch off) and so they reduced the analogue license fees to essentially zero for an entire decade?
If Ofcom really believed that we would reach the 50% listenership needed to set a date for switchoff then they're the only ones. The rest of the industry believed it was an unlikely pipe dream and there was no chance we'd be anywhere near that by 2015. Yes the owners of Classic FM have basically paid nothing for the last decade and won't for another decade.
Trebles all round at Classic FM then!
They (Global Radio) also used a perfectly legal technique (Eurobonds) i believe to minimise their tax bill. So they didn't pay much if any tax after they bought GCap Media Plc either.
Part of the problem is what DAB offers to the listeners. The extra stations and ease of tuning mean that it's easier for the listener to find new stations they can't get on FM/MW. So if you're running an FM station why would you promote this new technology that may cost you listeners? There's no incentive but some disincentive and consequently a lot of Programme Controllers just didn't bother.
To get to the state of 50% digital listening over 1.5 billion quid and it's probably closer to 2 has been spent. Was it well spent? I'll leave that up to you to decide
Biting the hand that feeds IT
