Shortage of digital radios prompts Jowell to launch government review

The Government has announced a surprise review of digital radio, in a move that could produce a switch-off date for the analogue signal.

Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said the BBC and the industry regulator would report on the "progress" of digital radio in the four years since the award of the first national digital radio multiplex.

It is unclear whether the BBC and the regulator will report together or separately. The review will look at the role of the BBC versus the commercial players, technology, content, regulations and whether the Government can provide incentives to stimulate the development of the market.

This Christmas saw the number of digital radios in British homes more than double, as shops sold out of the sets. The technology provides a much clearer signal, interactivity, and vastly greater capacity than analogue. Some 75,000 digital radios were snapped up in the lead-up to Christmas, whereas just 60,000 were bought, ever, prior to this. The industry forecasts that in 2003, 500,000 sets will be sold in the UK, with a further 1 million in 2004.

Ms Jowell, addressing a London conference on digital radio, said: "The success of Christmas sales means that the debate has shifted. After long years of having more people broadcasting digital services than listening to them there is at last a real sense that the market is moving."

One of the key issues the study will have to tackle is the shortage of digital radio sets. Not a single Japanese manufacturer has a mass market product available and the UK's leading producer, Roberts, does not make digital sets. Before Christmas the £99 set came on the market and now "Walkman-sized" sets are on offer but none of the big manufacturers has so far got involved.

The BBC has just launched a series of digital only stations, including 1Xtra, which plays contemporary black music and BBC 7, a comedy and drama speech-based station. A large number of people listen to digital radio through digital television, via satellite, cable or terrestrial. Commercial broadcasters have also spent millions of pounds on their digital services.

"More choice, lower prices, and the fast-growing programme range are giving digital radio, at last, the chance of really taking off ... The commercial sector has risen to this challenge and duly invested." Ms Jowell said.

Unlike television, which is supposed to be completely digital by 2010, there is no switch-over date for the analogue radio signal. The review will examine whether such a government-imposed timetable for radio would be useful. Unofficially, politicians and the industry are talking about 2015 as a date.

"Is there any realistic possibility of setting a digital switchover date for radio? I can't see it for the foreseeable future, but I would like to hear your views," Ms Jowell said.

Unusually the commercial operators have co-operated to get digital radio started and they have, in another break with tradition, also collaborated with the BBC. The review will look into whether the BBC's vast resources are giving it an unfair advantage in digital radio.

The radio industry is hoping that digital technology will give it access to new revenue streams, such as data services, where it could rival 3G phones, and possibly, subscription radio.