"You will get some audiophiles that take issue with that," he adds, "but our recent research (and OFCOM's research) shows that 88 per cent of users voted DAB audio quality as 'good or higher'."
"To do DAB+ it would cost a lot more for the broadcasters right now – they would have to change certain standards, they would have to use up more capacity than they need to to do it, they would have to effectively bypass or switch off the nine million or so DAB radios already out there. How is there any case for doing that right now for the sake of a small number of audiophiles?"
In-car digital radios
Looking at more immediate short-term developments, Moretta emphasises that the focus is very much on developments with in-car DAB radio, with the latest radios offering "much better traffic data – a service called TPEG, for example, is a way of offering much better traffic data on DAB than you can currently offer on analogue," a service that he notes, "is being pushed a lot in Germany right now. Trafficmaster are just about to launch a much-improved TPEG service, as they have the capacity on Digital One.
Talking about other in-car developments, Moretta is again excited about the possibilities offered by Sky+ style recording and listen-again functionality in the car.
"Wouldn't it be great if you could just tap a button in the car and it records it for you automatically? So you can listen to it when you get in the car the following morning, instead of listening to Wogan or the Today Programme or whatever, should you wish. It is the time-shifting and the listen-again features and that sort of stuff that people will want to use."
You can read the full and frank interview with the DRDB's CEO, Tony Moretta on TechRadar.
