In this year’s Queen’s Speech, government committed to the migration of digital radio through the Digital Economy Bill. To help its members gain a better understanding of digital radio, SMMT will hold a seminar on Monday 14 December.
The Digital Economy Bill follows on government’s Digital Britain Report, published in June 2009, outlining plans that require all new vehicles to be fitted with digital radios from 2013 and every vehicle currently on the road, but not fitted with a digital radio, to be digitally enabled from as early as 2015. A cross-stakeholder effort between broadcasters, government and vehicle manufacturers is essential to deliver effectively on the recommendations made by the Report and government’s Digital Economy Bill.
The seminar, to be held at Forbes House, will feature speakers from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Highways Agency, BBC, Arqiva, Frontier Silicon and Trafficmaster. These representatives will give further details about the political background of the Digital Britain Report, questions of coverage and content and the availability of traffic information. Special focus will provide an informed insight into other services which the switch to digital will enable. Speakers from Ford and Jaguar Land Rover will present the industry’s perspective on the proposed migration from analogue to digital.
The programme for the digital radio seminar on 14 December has been sent to those members who requested it. The seminar is free to attend but places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Members interested in attending the digital radio seminar should contact Bob Davis (bdavis@smmt.co.uk).
