I didn’t see that, thanks.
Though that does leave the exception of Edge Radio, being RA3. I don’t understand the reasoning to make an exception for two of the three stations that have differing license areas, and not just add in the remaining one. Obviously Edge Radio has the most distinct and limited license area, but does that really matter when there’s no prospect of a ‘Hobart South’ DAB multiplex?
Hopefully in Hobart the other stations will do something similar to what has happened with Joy in Melbourne, and just give access to it despite them being in a different license area.
I have that worry for a lot of regional markets - where there’s stations each with a slightly different market to the others. Maryborough in Victoria is one example that comes to mind - places like Echuca and Kerang that are covered by the Bendigo license area but not Maryborough would be out of the range of the initial Bendigo DAB transmitter anyway, yet the planning will likely treat them as totally separate markets, but the spectrum capacity issues will mean that a separate Maryborough service would never get to air.
Bendigo is also an example for the community radio case - they have no Bendigo RA1 community stations (from a quick look at the transmitter list) - should they draw the line there, or at the somewhat wide coverage RA2 to include just an RPH station, or do they go further, and then be inconsistent with this Hobart decision.
If the Hobart community radio decision is a hint at the future inflexibility on merging license areas to better service markets with a bunch of distinctly licensed stations, I think were in for a lot of stations missing out, or extended wrangling over who gets on the multiplex in a given market - doubly so when it’s commercial stations rather than community ones.