Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Long Wave Radio Transmission: RTE

11:25 am

Mr. John Paul Coakley:

Unfortunately, that does not save us the running costs of €250,000, which is the issue there. With regard to digital radio coverage, the Chairman is right. In the United Kingdom, digital radios now account for 60% of all digital listening. In London, for example, digital listening now exceeds 50% of all listening. We took the position as early as 2004, but more recently in 2008, that until the commercial sector is part of digital radio in this country, we have slightly less than half a proposition.

We believe that DAB and DAB+ are part of the future of FM in this country, but until there is a joined-up sectoral move, it is not the time for further roll-out. There are also, as Mr. Jennings mentioned earlier, financial constraints.