KEY POINTS:
CAMBRIDGE - The radio industry needs widespread regulatory reform and should prepare to switch fully from analogue to digital signals, said the chief executive of regulator Ofcom, Ed Richards.
"Fundamental reform is needed. The status quo is dead," the head of the media watchdog told delegates at a radio industry conference in Cambridge.
Richards said listeners had never had more choice with at least 25 radio services broadcast via television, more than 90 stations via satellite and the majority of the country's cities having at least 35 digital stations.
However, multi-channel television, mobile phones and gaming, and broadband entertainment via services such as YouTube and MySpace meant commercial radio was facing possibly its biggest ever economic challenge.
Commercial radio revenues fell by 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 from the previous year.
Richards said a key question for the industry and Ofcom was how far and fast reform should go, but Ofcom did not want to issue a date for formally switching off Britain's analogue broadcasting digital before speaking to the government and industry.
In television, the process of switching off analogue signals starts this year, with complete switchover due by 2012.
Richards said change was needed because the cost of dual transmission was a "very real burden" with the lack of clarity and understanding on the issues curbing the radio industry's enthusiasm to make the move to digital and launch new services.
"Clearly, a necessary pre-condition to any road map will be the alignment of the end dates for existing analogue licences," he said.
"Without such an alignment we cannot sensibly begin to ask, let alone answer, the questions about what a sensible transition might look like."
There are around five million digital sets in UK homes. France is set to launch services next year and Germany plans to relaunch its services with enhanced coverage.
On Friday, Ofcom awarded a new 12-year digital radio licence to 4 Digital Group headed by Channel 4 that will challenge the dominance of the BBC. The group includes BSkyB, Emap and Carphone Warehouse.
Ofcom has yet to publish the reasons for its decision, but Richards said Group 4 had a distinctive range of services including stations aimed at Asian and children's audiences.
- REUTERS
