[cr-india] The push towards DAB... how will it affect CR? (Mint)

Thu Mar 6 02:12:07 CST 2014

I agree with Vickram on this.

We have to consider the cost of digital transmitters and receivers. Like
TV, there will be no subsidy on either device. It's going to be a while
before cheap mobile phones with DRM receivers enter the market. We dont
even have cheap standalone DRM receivers much less integrated into phones.

It may cost the same or even cheaper to just stream radio online! At least
we know costs of smartphones and data plans are coming down steadily.
Govt has already invested 20, 000 crores plus in a national optic fibre
network.  Until internet becomes ubiquitous,  simulcasting can continue.
Also ita a bad idea to just discontinue analogue AM radio. There's no data
on how many people are still listening.  I was actually hoping that
community radio gets some space on AM!

The same question needs to be asked in the context of TV. Why is
Doordarshan considering digital terrestrial?  Why not just switch entirely
to satellite - they are already operating DD Plus. Just buy all the
analogue terrestrial viewers a DD Plus STB and its done! It'll be cheaper
than switching to DTT.

Best,
Ram
On 6 Mar 2014 12:48, "v1clist at yahoo.co.uk" <v1clist at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> The original article appears to claim an easy transition from analogue to
> drm, because the TX can handle both. Of course, at ten times the cost, heh
> heh. And no digital receivers, unless one includes the satreceivers used by
> the small community of Worldspace subscribers, some of whom may have held
> on to their silent boxes, that may or may not be possible to adapt to
> terrestrial broadcasting, making the digital capability a very large and
> expensive white elephant.
>
> Or maybe they are counting on mobile phones, and the ingenuity of Indian
> jugaadineers? Or the survival instincts of our poor telecom majors, all
> bruised from their encounters in the African wilds. Incidentally, if that
> is the way they go, this debate will be moot.
>
> Vickram
> communicall.wordpress.com
> Yahoo! Mail on Android
>
>  ------------------------------
> * From: * sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com>;
> * To: * Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا <
> fredericknoronha at gmail.com>; CR India <cr-india at sarai.net>;
> * Subject: * Re: [cr-india] The push towards DAB... how will it affect
> CR? (Mint)
> * Sent: * Thu, Mar 6, 2014 5:50:39 AM
>
>   We are getting very confused signals about *Digital Radio Mondiale *(DRM)
> in India.
>
> The CII seminar on DRM in Delhi last week was very bullish<http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/indian-manufacturers-enthusiastic-about-drm-introduction-says-drm-consortium>on the technology. It would have been even more convincing if the CEO of
> Prasar Bharati, which has invested millions of dollars on DRM transmitters, had
> not said -- only days before<http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/drm-meet-delhi-against-backdrop-prasar-bharati-considering-freezing-drm#story> --
> that DRM was a waste of money.
>
> All India Radio, according to the CEO, Mr. Jawahar Sircar, should focus on
> expanding its FM coverage, which is only about 43% of the population at
> present.
>
> AIR plans to install 72 digital (DRM) transmitters under the 11th Plan, of
> which some 36 have already been bought and are being installed. These DRM
> transmitters range in power from 100 kW to 300 kW, and they don't come
> cheap. A 1000 kW 'super power' DRM transmitter has been set up in Jamnagar,
> Gujarat, and it cost Rs. 42 crores (about USD 6.8 million) to install. Two
> more of these 1000 kW trx are in the pipeline, and their total cost is more
> than the entire Plan support for community radio.
>
> The Prasar Bharati CEO has now come out even more strongly against DRM<http://www.newkerala.com/news/2014/fullnews-19765.html>,
> calling it 'mindless' and 'silly'. "A lot of money has been pushed into
> DRM, and we have around 100 DRM transmitters. But the DRM radio receivers
> cost Rs.5,000, so who will buy them? So, all the silly targets being made
> within Prasar Bharati or even in the ministry would require a
> re-examination before we push any target," says Mr. Sircar.
>
> The DRM Consortium claims that, when 72 MW transmitters of AIR are
> replaced with DRM transmitters, it should "increase coverage to 70 per cent
> of the Indian population, representing some 800 million people." This
> sounds very impressive, until you realize that 'coverage' is a meaningless
> concept unless the 'covered' people have DRM receivers. I would be
> surprised if there are 80 DRM receivers in this coverage area.
>
> On the subject of wasteful 'coverage', the Jamnagar transmitter is a case
> in point. The Jamnagar site, we are told <http://www.drm.org/?p=964>, is
> for broadcasting Urdu, Sindhi and Baluchi programs of AIR's External
> Services "to nearby Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and some other Gulf
> countries in North West direction". We need to ask whether the good people
> of Pakistan and Afghanistan have DRM receivers to listen to these
> programmes, or whether there is any point in blasting Urdu and Baluchi
> programmes in the general direction of Iran and 'other Gulf countries in
> the North West direction' where these languages are not spoken. (AIR's
> External Services were set up during WW-II, and even today, their programme
> languages faithfully reflect the political concerns of the Empire).
>
> The Sam Pitroda *Expert Committee on Prasar Bharati
> <http://www.prasarbharaticommittee.in/> *has made some interesting
> recommendations regarding FM and DRM, while pointing out the lack of
> affordable DRM receivers.
>
> There is no clarity at all on the digital switch-over (circa 2017?) or
> which digital technology India will eventually adopt. CR may be spared the
> agony for some years yet. My AIR engineering colleagues used to say that
> DAB stood for 'Dead And Buried'. I haven't asked them what DRM stands for,
> yet.
>
> Sajan
>
>
> On 6 March 2014 07:56, Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك
> نورونيا <fredericknoronha at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Digital broadcasting helped revive UK radio: Ruxandra Obreja
>>
>> DRM is only standard in world with which you can digitize any
>> band--medium wave, short wave or FM
>> Shuchi Bansal
>>
>> Ruxandra Obreja says the beauty of DRM is that you don't have to
>> construct everything from the ground up. You could add digital
>> components and turn the analogue sound into digital. Photo: Pradeep
>> Gaur/Mint
>> All India Radio (AIR), the radio arm under the public broadcaster
>> Prasar Bharti is gradually moving from analogue to digital signals for
>> clarity and reach. Under the 11th Plan, AIR must install 72 digital
>> transmitters. Of these, eight are currently operational and an
>> additional 27 will become digital soon.Ruxandra Obreja, head of
>> digital radio development at BBC World Service and chairman of DRM
>> Consortium (Digital Radio Mondiale), is now urging private FM radio
>> operators to switch to digital. She is in India to participate in a
>> seminar on digital radio organized by Confederation of Indian
>> Industry. In an interview, Obreja spoke about the benefits of digital
>> broadcasting and how it has helped revived radio in the UK. Edited
>> excerpts:
>> What has the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium achieved so far?
>> DRM Consortium is an international not-for-profit organisation made up
>> of over 100 radio broadcasters, equipment manufacturers, research
>> institutes and others. We have members from all over the world -
>> Brazil, South Korea, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK. What has
>> it achieved? A lot. It has put together a technology that is global,
>> open and for all broadcast bands. It is the only standard in the world
>> with which you can digitise any band - medium wave, short wave or FM.
>> It works efficiently, uses less energy, offers more features and
>> services.
>> Which are the important markets for digital radio?
>> The most important market is India. You have DRM in Bangladesh, China,
>> Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and now Japan. You have DRM signals in
>> Africa, Nigeria and lot of them in Europe. BBC itself is broadcasting
>> in DRM to Europe and to Asia. We have less signals in North Amercia as
>> it has its own HD standard.
>> But why should broadcasters dump their old technology? Is this move
>> geared towards helping some manufacturers?
>> You don't need to dump. You can make a transition from analogue to
>> digital. If you are a multi-platform broadcasters and you have digital
>> television and internet, are you going to keep your radio content
>> (analogue) that does not fit into any other platform? More than that,
>> a broadcaster gets more bucks for the money because in digital, the
>> compression allows up to three channels and one data casting channel
>> instead of one in analogue. And no, we do not support any companies.
>> Companies do business on their own. I am absolutely adamant that no
>> particular company will get advantage from the consortium. We are
>> not-for-profit.
>> The beauty of DRM is that you don't have to construct everything from
>> the ground up. You could add digital components and turn the analogue
>> sound into digital. You could even alternate the digital with the
>> analogue signal as the transmitter can run both, or run them side by
>> side until you have migrated listeners from analogue to digital.
>> Will digital radio help private FM operators?
>> You cannot digitize a country by just doing one sector -- private or
>> public, it has to be the whole ecosystem. AIR has realised that by
>> digitizing it is creating a valuable asset in which the digital
>> transmission capacity could be allocated, rented or leased to private
>> operatos. That might be one of the ideas.
>> DRM has a mode for FM which is called DRM Plus. And as India goes into
>> FM phase 3 with more stations and bigger networks, I think
>> digitization will give more capacity, ad revenue and more streams to
>> allow you to diversify your content. Digital broadcast quality is kind
>> of stereo, surround sound. It does not fade.
>> We are talking terrestrial transmission. Isn't satellite radio better?
>> Let me ask you, have you had satellite radio in India? Satellite radio
>> is expensive. When you have satellite radio you are not mobile, you
>> need an antenna and a dish. The quality is excellent but there is no
>> mobility. You can be mobile but it has a very expensive antenna
>> system.
>> Isn't radio listenership shrinking worldwide?
>> No, on the contrary. In the UK, we have quarterly figures and they are
>> going up.
>> They are trying to think why. Maybe there is a boom in children and
>> more mothers are at home listening or there are more people at home
>> umemployed. Or people are in the shift system -- not in 9 to 5 jobs any
>> more. I think in the UK digital radio has given an impulse to radio
>> listening. They have create new channels. For example, the most
>> listened to channel in the UK is Radio Four. They built a digital-only
>> channel called Radio Four Extra which has all the old comedies from 30
>> years ago. It has huge listenership.
>> Ruxandra Obreja, chairman, Digital Radio Mondiale, talks about the
>> benefits of digital broadcasting and how can it help private FM
>> players.
>>
>>
>> http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/t7J5et06n0mcCbb6ooe0nM/Digital-broadcasting-has-helped-revived-radio-in-UK-Ruxandr.html
>> --
>> FN Phone +91-832-2409490 Mobile +91-9822122436
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>>
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>>
>
>
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