Marko Ala-Fossi

The Future of Radio is Still Digital—But Which One? Expert Perspectives and Future Scenarios for Radio Media in 2015

The future of radio is now much less obvious and clear than it appeared 10 years ago. Instead of a transition from analog to digital audio broadcasting (DAB), there is a selection of alternative technological options for digital audio delivery. This article studies how 43 people in key positions related to the radio industry in four European countries and Canada view the future of radio and which delivery technologies they consider will be most successful. In addition, it analyzes the motives and reasons why certain technologies are seen as more promising. Finally, it presents different future scenarios for radio media.

DAB: the future of radio? The development of digital radio in four European countries

In common with most media and consumer technologies, radio is migrating from analogue to digital operation. Europe was the first region of the world to develop a digital replacement for traditional analogue broadcast radio. The Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) project began in 1987 and the first domestic DAB broadcasts began in 1995. However, DAB has made less progress than originally anticipated: some countries are at a relatively advanced level of development while others have not begun significant DAB services. This paper examines the development of the DAB service in four European countries, illustrating the variability in modes of development. The different digital policies adopted by each country is a key factor in these developments and we show how the existing state of analogue radio and the limitations of the technical system have shaped these policies.

The short future of public broadcasting: Replacing digital terrestrial television with internet protocol?

According to recent European estimates, the life expectancy of broadcasting as a free-to-air television platform is not more than 15 years. BBC, Yle and the UK regulator Ofcom have reached this conclusion in their reports about the future of news, media distribution and digital terrestrial television. Although broadcasting is seen as necessary until 2030, all three assume that digital terrestrial television can – under certain conditions – be replaced with delivery using internet protocol. However, it seems that the idea of IPTV taking over digital terrestrial television is just a sophisticated version of ‘black box fallacy’, driven by the expected growth of the new media ecosystem. The problems in replacing a socio-technological system have largely been neglected.

Why Did TV Bits and Radio Bits Not Fit Together? Digitalization and Divergence of Broadcast Media

This article examines the development of digital terrestrial broadcasting systems from the perspective of the political economy (Mosco, 1996). It studies the international and intermedial relations between radio and television technology development projects in Europe, the US, and Japan in the historical context of the European tradition of broadcast system standardization as well as the socio-political changes shaped by neo-liberalist policies over the last 30 years. It seeks to explain why both Europe and the US have developed separate, incompatible systems for digital TV as well as for digital radio broadcasting. It will also analyze the reasons why the Japanese were both willing and able to develop an integrated digital broadcasting system with a converged approach. 1University lecturer in Radio and Adjunct Professor in Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Tampere, Finland.

Eroding the assets of citizenship? From broadcast to broadband

The promise of convergence and the maturing internet appear to create arenas of communicative plenty but, instead of the end of spectrum scarcity, we are witnessing a new challenge of ‘coexistence’ and fierce competition over spectrum between the broadcasters and mobile telecom providers. Some European countries have already decided on further reductions in the broadcast spectrum, though the vast majority disagreed with the mobile industries’ proposal at the World Radiocommunication Conference in November 2015 that the entire ultra high frequency band should in future be shared by mobile broadband and broadcasting. This article explores the proposition that broadcasting requires adequate spectrum in order to deliver the information and cultural assets that are vital for citizenship, at a cost likely to remain significantly lower than comparable service delivered via subscription or broadband providers.

Finland: Maintaining the Fragile Consensus

Financed almost entirely by a special public broadcasting tax, and with no advertising or sponsoring allowed, Yle is one of the ‘purest’ public service organizations in Europe and might be seen as enjoying an enviably secure position in comparison to many other European PSM organizations. In recent years, however, the tradition of media policy consensus has increasingly showed signs of unravelling. The level and justification of Yle’s funding as well as its transparency, efficiency and accountability have been subject to heated political debate, with attacks against its legitimacy spearheaded by the struggling commercial media industry. This chapter reviews the main issues and arguments in the Finnish debates. It concludes that, at least for the time being, the fragile consensus over the importance of PSM is maintained, and it is unlikely that the current government would push through radical changes.

The Future of Radio Revisited: Expert Perspectives and Future Scenarios for Radio Media in 2025

In 2005–2006 the research group DRACE (Digital Radio Cultures in Europe) performed a study on how 43 people in key positions related to the radio industry in 4 European countries and Canada viewed the future of radio and which delivery technologies they considered would be most successful. In addition, it analyzed the motives and reasons certain technologies were seen as more promising than others. Finally, it presented 4 different future scenarios for radio media. The study was published in the Journal of Radio and Audio Media, May 2008. In 2005 the future of radio was considered much less obvious and clear than it appeared 10 years previously. Instead of a transition from analog to digital audio broad- casting (DAB), there was a selection of alternative technological options for digital audio delivery. When looking back from 2015 and considering the results of expert interviews, the project group about Public Service Media in the HERA project: Transnational Radio Encounters found interesting perspectives in replicating this study—now looking forward to 2025. By using the same questionnaire and interviewing the same experts (or new persons in the same positions) they could compare the predictions with the present situation, looking for technological, regulatory, policy based, and user-oriented contexts. Furthermore, they could ask the experts to look 10 years forward to 2025. Besides from the interviews, desk studies were performed in order to explore the national similarities and differences as background for the analysis of the scenarios for the 2015 and 2025 studies. This comparative study involves Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, and the UK.