NORWAY TO DROP FM RADIO AND SOON! This is no joke.

Norway will shut down FM radio in the country beginning in 2017, Radio.no reports. The Norwegian Ministry of Culture finalized a shift date this week, making it the first country to do away with FM radio entirely. The country plans to transition to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) as a national standard.

A statement released this week by the Ministry of Culture confirms a switch-off date that was proposed by the Norwegian government back in 2011. The government has concluded that the country is capable of meeting all the requirements necessary for a smooth transition to digital.

FM IS EIGHT TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN DAB

"Listeners will have access to more diverse and pluralistic radio-content, and enjoy better sound quality and new functionality," Minister of Culture Thorhild Widvey said in a statement. "Digitization will also greatly improve the emergency preparedness system, facilitate increased competition and offer new opportunities for innovation and development."

DAB currently offers 22 national channels as opposed to FM's five, and has the capacity to host almost 20 more. The cost of transmitting radio channels through FM is also eight times higher than the cost of DAB transmission, the ministry reports.

DAB has been available in Norway since 1995. DAB+, an updated form of DAB, was made available in 2007. According to the Ministry of Culture, it will be up to radio broadcasters to choose between DAB and DAB+ transmissions, although it is likely that by 2017, most broadcasting in the country will be in DAB+.

Several other countries in Europe and Southeast Asia are also considering a national move to DAB, but no other country has confirmed a timeline, Radio.no reports.

Norway's FM shutdown will begin on January 11th, 2017.

Yes, it's a joke. Changing modulation schemes from analog to digital isn't a big deal, compared to the "SKY IS FALLING" tweets I've been seeing tonight.

I heard the news, too!

I heard the news, too, as I was surfing the net tonight. I also listed it in the HD Radio folder of this forum. I believe that the end of analog radio is coming...and AM will be gone by the end of this decade.

Wow...so in one country, a government is shutting down FM radio. That's something you'll never see here.

"Congress shall make no law..."

In this country, government doesn't shut radio down...instead it does nothing to save AM.

TheBigA said:

Wow...so in one country, a government is shutting down FM radio. That's something you'll never see here.

"Congress shall make no law..."

In this country, government doesn't shut radio down...instead it does nothing to save AM.

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You're correct that we probably wouldn't see that sort of thing happen here, but the government did mandate all TV stations go digital in 2009.

Kelly A said:

You're correct that we probably wouldn't see that sort of thing happen here, but the government did mandate all TV stations go digital in 2009.

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And their experience, with all of the problems caused by people demanding free digital converters, was a bad one, and they vowed never to do this for radio. When the subject comes up, they repeat that there will be no federal mandate for digital radio.

Or that they have no intention to do it shortly before they do it...repeatedly.

landtuna said:

I remember the gubmint offering free boxes so you didn't have to dump your analog TV set. Admittedly, there may have been a scream and howl had the gubmint not done that but demand, no.

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Regardless of the details, it was a bad experience, and they vowed not to do it again.

There's really no need. Private companies are still willing to buy & sell licenses in this country, and 249 million people still listen. So why blow it up? There's no political upside, especially for a Congress that can't pass important legislation.

The motivation for Congress to force the DTV migration, was the assumption that the left over 6Mhz channels would be ripe for wireless auctions and big money. The thing they didn't take into account at the time, was many of the VHF TV channels were of no interest by wireless companies. Also, 'repackaging' really wasn't taken into consideration when migratory channels were being assigned prior to the transition date. Ironically, the UHF transition channels many stations moved to, were the channels that wireless companies wanted. The lesson learned? Politicians should stay out of spectrum management.

That being said, there are distinct theoretical advantages to a model like DAB:

1. Better spectrum utilization. Fewer individual stations mean reduced band congestion.
2. Signal parity. All participating stations are received equally. The listening experience is more consistent and predictable for all stations. Transmission disparity is removed from the competitive equation. Competition is purely between content, not signal quality.
3. Lower operating costs. Stations contribute initial capital to master system, then a fraction of utility/maintenance/operating costs, verses individual transmission plants as it is today.
4. Better audio quality and lower signal to noise. Provided the DAB group doesn't try to pack too many audio streams into the one modulated master stream, (like the SiriusXM example) audio quality will be much higher than analog or analog-hybrid FM radio.
5. A place for AM (MW) stations to migrate. (See #1)

Kelly A said:

That being said, there are distinct theoretical advantages to a model like DAB:

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Of course there are, and that's exactly why it won't happen here. Plus the fact that Norway began this process 20 years ago, and so far, we haven't done a thing.

At the same time, the big disadvantage is that it makes all existing radios obsolete, requiring the entire population to buy new radios, which is something they aren't motivated to do. At least not in this country. Maybe things are different in Norway.

The BigA,

You hit the nail on the head! Norway is decades ahead of us.

Norway is also way ahead of us when it comes to the purchase of electric cars. They were buying such a large amount of electric cars that their government stopped their incentives programs. In the US, only a small amount of people have switched, I believe mainly because we do not have a network of electric chargers available to driver whereas in Norway there is huge abundance of chargers so that your car is always able to be charged.

Last month, Norway registered its 50,000th electric car, hitting the milestone three years before expected and triggering a new debate about incentives.
Norway has some of the world’s most generous incentives for electric vehicle buyers. Electric cars are exempt from value added tax (VAT) and purchase tax, which on average in Norway add 50% to the cost of a vehicle. They are also exempt from road tolls, tunnel-use charges, and ferry charges. And they get free parking, free charging, and the freedom to use bus lanes.
It seems silly to not buy an electric car. So Norwegians have. In droves. As a result, the incentives are now being rolled back.

Reasons 2 and 5 are important reasons we should have DAB in the US.

Sadly, these same advantages are exactly why we will never have DAB here. DAB was a threat to billions of dollars of investment in radio properties, made with the understanding they would be protected from competition.

If DAB had taken hold, the moment most cars and homes had DAB radios, much of the investor value of major market Class B and C FMs would be lost.

No longer would anyone pay $100,000,000 for the big FM when the old 500w daytimer offered stereo full-time, full-market coverage through DAB.

In an old, corrupted economy like the USA, everything is about protecting capital from competition.

It's like the medieval laws that criminalized the synthesis of gold (which were meaningless at the time as gold was an element, and meaningless today as making gold through nuclear bombardment would cost far more than even $2,000/oz.)

No wonder unemployment seems to be so low - everyone has moved to all of those extraordinarily advanced countries.

joshzz said:

The BigA,

You hit the nail on the head! Norway is decades ahead of us.

Norway is also way ahead of us when it comes to the purchase of electric cars. They were buying such a large amount of electric cars that their government stopped their incentives programs. In the US, only a small amount of people have switched, I believe mainly because we do not have a network of electric chargers available to driver whereas in Norway there is huge abundance of chargers so that your car is always able to be charged.

Last month, Norway registered its 50,000th electric car, hitting the milestone three years before expected and triggering a new debate about incentives.
Norway has some of the world’s most generous incentives for electric vehicle buyers. Electric cars are exempt from value added tax (VAT) and purchase tax, which on average in Norway add 50% to the cost of a vehicle. They are also exempt from road tolls, tunnel-use charges, and ferry charges. And they get free parking, free charging, and the freedom to use bus lanes.
It seems silly to not buy an electric car. So Norwegians have. In droves. As a result, the incentives are now being rolled back.

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It helps that Norway is the country with the highest standard of living in the world, so the people who want electric cars can afford to buy them.

No one in the U.S. buys electric cars for the same reason they aren't buying houses right now -- because they simply can't afford them. Even without a VAT, purchase tax, etc.

1L6E6VHF said:

Sadly, these same advantages are exactly why we will never have DAB here. DAB was a threat to billions of dollars of investment in radio properties, made with the understanding they would be protected from competition.

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And yet HDTV was a threat to billions of dollars of investment in TV properties, and Congress mandated a switch to HDTV. I really doubt very much that DAB wasn't pursued because it was a threat to OTA radio. If the Congress really wanted to authorize DAB, they would have, just as they authorized satellite and LPFM, both over objections from the NAB.

joshzz said:

It seems silly to not buy an electric car. So Norwegians have. In droves. As a result, the incentives are now being rolled back.

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Americans drive A LOT more than other countries. If you haven't noticed, our country is much larger physically speaking. It's not silly to buy an overpriced, unreliable car with underdeveloped technology. All of the taxes you're describing has FORCED Norwegian people to buy electric cars.

And yet Norway is one of the top oil producing and exporting countries in the world.

Norway isn't ending FM, just the government stations moving.

Read the other thread:
http://www.radiodiscussions.com/sho...t-Dead-Says-Norwegian-Local-Radio-Association