Christian Broadcasting News brings information about the happenings in Christian Radio and TV Broadcasting in the UK and around the world

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

DAB for North Wales

Ofcom this week confirmed the award of the new local Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio multiplex licence for North Wales to the sole applicant MuxCo Wales.

MuxCo Wales Limited is owned jointly by Town and Country Broadcasting Limited (70%) and MuxCo Ltd (30%)

MuxCo proposes to commence the new service with six local digital sound programme services within two years of licence award, using a network of two transmitters providing DAB "outdoor" coverage to an unusaully low 50% of the adult population of the licensed area.

Included in the radio stations proposed for the new network are the broadcasts from UCB UK.

MuxCo also proposes to provide "a wide selection of speech and music podcasts provided by a range of companies".

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

One applicant for North Wales DAB mux

Ofcom has received one application for the North Wales local digital radio multiplex licence, that being from MuxCo North Wales Limited.

Shareholders in MuxCo North Wales Limited are Town and Country Broadcasting Limited (70%) and MuxCo Ltd (30%)

MuxCo North Wales Limited is proposing to provide six local digital sound programme services, in addition to BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, including the broadcasts of UCB UK.

They also propose to provide "a wide selection of speech and music podcasts provided by a range of companies".

MuxCo North Wales Limited proposes to commence its service with all six local digital sound programme services within two years of licence award, using a network of two transmitters which it estimates will provide total 'outdoor' coverage of 50% of the adult population of the licensed area.

The full application for this licence will be published on the Ofcom website shortly and Ofcom seeks views on the application by 6 June 2008.

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

UCB proposed for new Gloucestshire DAB system

Ofcom has received two applications for the new Gloucestershire local digital radio multiplex licence.

The applicants are MuxCo Gloucestershire Limited (ownership UKRD Group Ltd 25% Murfin Media Ltd 25% Town & Country Broadcasting Ltd 25%MuxCo Ltd 25%) and Now Digital Limited (owned by GCap Media plc.)

MuxCo Gloucestershire Limited is proposing to provide ten local digital sound programme services, in addition to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, including UCB UK. Now Digital Limited is proposing to provide eleven local digital sound programme services, in addition to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, again including UCB UK.

MuxCo Gloucestershire Limited proposes to commence its service with all ten proposed local digital sound programme services and BBC Radio Gloucestershire in October 2008, using a network of four transmitters which it estimates will provide 'outdoor' coverage of 79% of the adult (aged 15+) population of the licensed area.

Now Digital Limited proposes to commence its service with all eleven local digital sound programme services by December 2008, using a network of three transmitters which it estimates will provide 'outdoor' coverage of 75.4% of the adult (aged 15+) population of the licensed area.

Ofcom is seeking views on these applications by 3 January 2008. Any written representations on the applications can either be emailed to commercialradio@ofcom.org.uk or posted to Neil Stock, Head of Radio, Ofcom, Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA. Please mark the correspondence 'Gloucestershire licence'.

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Friday, August 24, 2007

UCB to extend DAB reach in England and Wales

United Christian Broadcasters Limited (UCB) has secured DAB Digital radio capacity on MXR, covering five major regions and potentially reaching another 17.6 million people with the Gospel.

UCB is to extend its DAB Digital radio broadcasting reach across England and Wales with the addition of five regions which, with its existing London and Stoke licences, will mean that many of the UK's major cities will now be able to hear Christian radio, most of them for the first time.

UCB will commence broadcasting in the new regions on October 1st 2007 taking UCB's potential audience for its Christian radio output on the DAB Digital radio network to just under 30 million adults, according to Ofcom.

MXR Limited, which operates the five DAB Digital radio networks, covering almost 18 million adults, invited UCB to apply for access to their North East, North West, Yorkshire, West Midlands and Severn Estuary regions in March.


'We are really pleased to see UCB become a content provider on our multiplexes,' says Diane Wray, MXR Limited's Managing Director.'UCB is a quality broadcaster and they are bringing something new and exciting to these regions.'
Two Radio Stations
UCB is actually launching two radio stations across the five regions: UCB UK and UCB Inspirational. UCB UK is UCB's 'flagship' station which is currently being broadcast on DAB Digital radio across London and much of Staffordshire.

UCB's 21-year vision for national Christian radio broadcasting remains a driving force for the organisation and its many supporters.

'We set our sights on providing national Christian broadcasting back in 1986 and more recently determined we needed two very different radio formats to ensure we were able to meet the needs of all our supporters, regardless of their age,' says Ian Mackie, UCB's Chief Executive.
'This breakthrough takes us a long way to achieving both objectives.'
Towns and cities able to receive UCB's DAB Digital radio broadcasts for the first time will include Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Lincoln, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry, Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol and Bath.

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