The MD of Sony UK has said that the company expects to see the digital radio switchover in Britain by 2015, with the FM signal being switched off for good soon after that date.
The news comes as part and parcel of the announcement this week that Sony UK is set to sponsor the Sony Radio Academy Awards next year, with Steve Dowdle, MD of Sony UK, confirming its 28th year of sponsorship, "despite financially uncertain times, alongside the news that Sony is and will continue to be committed to supporting the UK Radio Industry."
Sony's Dowdle also re-confirmed that the company sees DAB as the future of radio and "suggested an achievable switchover date of 2015."
Sony committed to DAB
Sony recently crowned Kerrang! Radio's 'Singing Henri' as its DAB Rising Star of 2009 – pictured here alongside a rather fetching young lady called Kirsty that you may have seen on the telly.
"It would be quite easy for a big corporate like Sony to say, we've done our 27 years; I think we've done our bit so let's save a bit of money and move on," says Sony UK MD Steve Dowdle.
"But that's not the right thing to do for us; we are very committed to radio even in this uncertain time and we would like to confirm that we are sponsoring the Radio Awards in 2010 and developing our other projects such as the Sony Schools Radio Awards."
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jvincentuk
October 26th
2. there is something wrong with the bosses at sony. 2015 move to DAB only is a joke. local multiplex coverage does not match that of local FM stations. and this switch off FM for good? im sorry but w**? what about our local community stations? they need to survive. DAB is a joke with mono services. it was designed to broadcast a station at atleast 200kbps NOT 64KBPS. Bring in DAB+ and get yourselfs moving on the coverage issue. Im not being funny but as it stands Now. FM is more reliable.
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purplewalrus
June 8th
1. Well someone is going to have to do something about the poor quality of DAB broadcasting in comparison with fm! I thought that Sony was a world wide company and therefore would be including fm tuners because the use of this carrier will continue in other parts of the world. This looks a bit parochial and seems to ignore the current realities of the DAB situation.
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