Radio shall continue to progress in DAB+ without abandoning analog. Interview with Sergio Natucci (President DAB Italia) - Text Version
Podcast Media Monitor ep. 16 28/05/2022
Sergio Natucci (DAB Italia): An analog switch off should not be done just because the current system (FM) costs too much. The 88-108 band will remain analog with frequency modulation, until the consumer decides otherwise. The radio system must progress to ful digital coverage without abandoning analog.
The (Italian) authority shall proceed with the implementation of the national DAB plan regardless of some international agreements, which have been stuck for years (talks with Adriatic neighbours such as Slovenia and Croatia).
Poor quality at 32 Kbps? A detail for a few connoisseurs. There is no race between radio and automotive dashboard apps, it is a natural evolution of the world of communication.
Interview with Sergio Natucci ( DAB Italy )
After Eugenio La Teana of WorldDAB , NL 's interviews with the top managers of digital radio continue. It is the turn of Sergio Natucci, manager of DAB Italia since its inception. As always, the interview in its Podcast version contains the entire conversation, including some segments not covered in this article.
The Interview
(Newslinet) - Who are the partners of DAB Italia ?
(Sergio Natucci) - There are eight members, Elemedia, Il Sole 24 ore, Monradio, RDS, Radio Maria, Centro di Produzione (Radio Radicale), all of which correspond to 50% of the national analogue dealers.
GFK data
(NL) - What percentage of listeners use DAB , according to your data?
(SN) - DAB Italia has been commissioning GFK for some years to conduct a survey on the use of DAB services. According to these data, I can state that 82% of owners of a DAB device listen to the radio through this platform. As in ge caseneral for digital radio listening is 69% in the car and 26% at home.
Coverage
(NL) - Let's talk about coverage. How many years ago did you start and are you satisfied with the current coverage?
(SN) - Club DAB Italy was established in 1996, the first releases are in 1998, the project in the form of a continuous service is in 2011. Our coverage is similar to the other private operator which - as you know - is 86% of the population outdoors and 57% indoors. The panorama today sees 50 nationwide programs ...50 national in DAB, of which 21 also in FM
(NL) -… national programs?
(SN) - Exactly , of national programs, of which 21 are also in FM. Today there are 39 local operators with over 450 programs. DAB receivers amounted to 9,200,000 as of December 31, 2021, of which approximately 400,000 are domestic (4.3% Ed) . Taking into account car sales at the end of 2022, we will exceed 10 million.
A free choice?
(NL) - Now a question that we hope will not appear controversial ...
(SN) - Your questions are all controversial, so I trained before answering ...
(NL) - Perfect….ok. this is it: To achieve significant use of DAB it was necessary to resort to a law. But if a technology is attractive, no law is needed to force users to purchase the receiving device: where is the problem?
(SN) - There is no problem! As happened with the evolution of the television standard (first with DVB and today with T2), governments wanted to guarantee consumers first of all and at the same time the development of digital technologies with specific legislative interventions.
As in all of Europe
Moreover, Italian measures are the same adopted throughout Europe on the basis of the directives on electronic communications. After all, even for telephone technologies - 5G - State intervention was even more sustained to favor its development. It's normal practice, I don't see any problem.
Not complete offer
(NL) - To succeed, DAB would have to propose an offer comparable to that of FM. Only recently , however, local stations have had the opportunity to activate in digital format, however not all of them and with experimental licenses…
(SN) - I believe that the whole radio system must progress to digital without abandoning analog. It must be said that in some regions of Italy the local activity has over 10 years of history (just think of Trentino). In Lazio there is a local operator with an authorization active since 2011. In any case - as you found in Milan where, as you told me, you countedf over 120 stations in mid may 2022- only recently local station have asked and obtained the space they deserve. In most cases it is however a free choice of publishers, there were no foreclosures.
50%
Local programs, it should be noted, are now 50% of those broadcast in analogue.
Local radio owners have also realized the importance of going digital
The intervention is constant and important, finally even local radio owners are realizing the importance of the transition to digital.
After refarming
(NL) - After the refarming AGCOM will be able to publish the famous PNAF and the MISE the notices for the attribution of rights of use. What will change in your opinion?
(SN) - First of all, I believe that the Authority will proceed with the approval of the plan regardless of international agreements, because if the Adriatic table - which has been stuck for three and a half years - does not find a conclusion, we cannot play the game of Penelope's canvas.
Stability plan
As soon as possible, it is necessary to have a plan for which I believe that the Authority will comply to the letter with the provisions of the law and also with its obligations. That said as soon as the plan is in place, digital will find its stability.
An opportunity
Mind you, it will not be the beginning of the end of analogue, but an opportunity to offer more local and national services throughout the territory. A free choice, no one will be forced to join local or national consortia, no one - I hope - will be excluded and even skeptics like you will take note of the modernity and reliability of DAB.
(NL) - You call me a skeptic, but it doesn't correspond to the truth…
(SN) - Look, everyone is free… that is to say, it's a freedom of the interviewee.
The perfect sound
(NL) - Let's talk about the supposed perfect sound. There are stations in your multiplex at 32 kbps and lead stations at 64 kbps. In Switzerland they used 100+ kbps and also the Italian radios broadcast from Monte Carlo are at least 88 Kbps. How can digital compete if it sounds worse than analog?
(SN) - As I said before, there is a desire to always subject the DAB to the verification of the smallest detail, just to say " yes , but". However, I do not escape the question and I say to myself “well, the exams never end, let’s answer”. First of all, as an operator, we do not comment on the choices of content providers, both for programming and for the modality in which they want to be distributed. Nor can comparisons be made with other countries, each has its own space of frequencies with which to satisfy the demand for transmission capacity relating to its market.
Look for the speck
Certainly we cannot deny the quality of DAB: listening is mainly in the car, on the street, with all the connected noise sources, pneumatic horn motors. Talking about k bits per second seems to me a detail for a few connoisseurs compared to the advantage of 34 million listeners. For the search for the famous straw inside the egg ( eye? Editor 's note ) , as the popular saying goes, in my opinion there will be a way and above there will be time.
Likee on DTT?
(NL) - Are we running risk to repeat the problem of digital terrestrial TV, a disproportionate number of channels of low interest and negligible quality?
(SN) - Well, it seems to me that we are a bit far from that situation.
United Kingdom
(NL) - In the United Kingdom, DAB has not yet reached 50% of the audience, weighing about 41%. Do you have an idea of the projections for Italy?
(SN) - The RAJAR data actually gives only 41% to DAB, but analog is now limited to 32% (FM and AM). Listening in DAB has far surpassed analog. But I don't believe to the “DAB against the rest of the world” competition.
100 years "and counting"
In two years radio will celebrate 100 years and is globally a vital activity. Italy will play its part in digtal as soon as it has the availability of frequencies. In any case it is a process with successive steps, the replacement of the car fleet, the coverage of the entire territory, steps that require a lot of investments.
Conscientious entrepreneurs
Today, entrepreneurs have become aware of this change and are doing their part. Forecasts can only be made by having all the elements in hand: availability of frequencies, rights of use, maturity of the market.
The dashboard issue
(NL) - The radio seems to have lost the race to access the car dashboard , as told by the director of Newslinet …
(SN) - I partly disagree with his assertion. First of all, there is no "race" in which someone wins and someone loses. The evolution of the world and of the way of using communication is a little more complex.
Edison turns on the light bulb
But your very own editor, a few days after the editorial you cited, informed us - and it was important - of the results of the latest Edison USA research data.
If Newslinet says so ...
You have titled "radio holds its position in car", which is a little different from "radio lost the race". Also in that article it is described how the same study reports that broadcast listening in cars is equal to 86%, a very significant figure especially in a country where satellite reception has existed for years.
88-108 the day after
(NL) - Last question, E.La Teana of RTL 102.5 stated that current concessionaires of frequencies in the 88-108 MHz band should maintain their use even after the analog switch off, providing for digital reuse. What is your position?
(SN) -A few years ago DAB Italia in the WorldDAB boardroom proposed a study on the use in digital technology - DAB of course! - of the “FM” band. In the end, nothing has been done, and I don't think there are any projects active at the moment. For two reasons. Firzt at present the switch off - concretely, not in journalistic statements - is not being talked about in concrete terms. Virtually no country has foreseen a date. And then, think of the difficulty in the UK to go from DAB to DAB + in the face of a large number of receivers already active.
The problem of the installed base
We would end up with the same problem (current DAB receivers are enabled at 174.0 MHz - 240.0 MHz and 1.452 MHz - 1.468 MHz), the problem of having to replace newly purchased equipment. Radio evolves at slow pce, just think of the migration from medium wave to frequency modulation, or think of stereo (this is just the case for RAI, the state broadcaster. Private radios were quick to adopt stereo, Editorial note) . I think it is a losing game and that the 88-108 band will remain analog with frequency modulation, until the consumer decides otherwise. And I'm talking about a few decades.
The energy question
(NL) - However, Mr. Roberto Sergio, Director of Radio Rai, pointed out the enormous waste of energy due to the maintenance of two systems, the oldest of which consumes 30 times more than digital. And in this period, pressing on the accelerator seems to make sense ...
(SN) - A switch off is not to. be done because the analogue costs too much. There are other ways to decrease the costs of FM, even without planning it, otherwise we would set in motion fotces that disrupt the life of our market. Let's face it (after COVID) radio sector is just now recovering from a serious slump in turnover. Any intervention today would disturb the whole system. And in the end it would also disrupt the development of digital. If FM works and the broadcasters intend to support it, believing that it is their strategic asset, who has the right to take it off them and turn it off?
A false problem
The Geneva plan perhaps? But we're talking about something from 1984. It 's a false problem.
(NL) - Thank you and we hope to hear from you again soon.
(SN) -Whenever you want: I am always available for your insinuating and controversial questions! (MHB for NL)