Government expected to delay digital radio switchover
The Government has signalled that the switch off date for AM and FM radio in favour of digital may not happen as early as previously expected.
The switchover to digital radio was scheduled by the previous Labour regime to take place in 2015, although no date was every firmly committed to.
Communications minister Ed Vazey is expected later today to announce that while he sees digital radio as a ‘huge opportunity’ he does not believe it should be forced onto the public and that a decision for the switch over will be made once more than half of the radio listening figures come through digital listening.
Last week Lord Norman Fowler sounded a warning about the impending digital switchover, saying that ‘an explosion of indignation’ from drivers and pensioners would face The Government when the switchover was made.