Take that with a grain of salt, especially when applying it to Australia. Especially in regards to remote and emergency broadcasting given that the geography of Great Britain is a bit different to Australia.
Interestingly, they say ‘over the next decade’ but I think we’re still 2-3 decades away from completely abandoning TV and radio terrestial broadcasts in Australia.
Agree, I think AM radio will be on the way out first as electric vehicles start to replace petrol and diesel cars, as batteries are known to play havoc with AM reception in EVs. This could be an opportunity for DAB+ and DRM to replace AM and to supplement streaming.
In an ideal world where ACMA actually had some people with brains in charge… 
ACMA is a joke. The fact they haven’t got a clear path to get off AM in 2023 is pathetic. Even without DAB and DRM they should have the vast majority of stations on FM, even in congested metro areas. If they had applied a bit of foresight and re-planning it could have happened. Look at the glacial pace and unclear outcome of the Perth re-plan. They’ve got to be the worst “regulator” in existence.
We just had a change in Federal government too. Time to pester the new communications minister.
In 1980, Sydney and Melbourne got two new commercial stations while Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth got one each.
Twenty years later in the early 2000’s, the same thing happened again, except that Brisbane got two new commercial stations instead of one.
It’s now twenty years later. Surely it’s time to look into new commercial stations?
Not while policy decisions are made by the industry
that’s true, but at the same time, do we need new commercial stations, in the capital cities, anyway?
I doubt we will get any new players. It would be argued not enough spectrum especially with community radio being on FM team and serving an important role in most cases.
With internet too, there are different forms of radio that now exist. Maybe its like adding extra teams into the footy comp or the Big bash, if too many teams it will just be spread the talent out too thin there is a point of where more doesn’t mean better.
I’d love Sydney to have a Forever Classic GN FM version added in or a new station from left field to make things more interesting in Sydney, but I can’t see it happen unless someone buys a pre-existing station.
Increasing station numbers in regional areas would potentially add a significant benefit, but there would be serious questions over whether the markets could support more stations (and with a lack of potential market competitors it would simply be extensions of existing networks)
In the metro markets, I think there is better value in improving DAB+, especially if additional bandwidth can be added to accommodate either more stations or higher-quality audio (or both).
I have wondered whether there is room in the market for “national” commercial licences where you could potentially have tighter control on matters like ownership and content.
Radio has missed its calling. Most people want music and the bulk of the population have discovered Spotify and other streaming services. I can’t see how the remaining AM music stations are going to survive
We do in places like Brisbane where only 4 are on FM and 4 on AM. Two out of the 4 commercial AM operators are niche with SEN having basically no listeners. With DAB taking an eternity to gain traction they have to get some of the commercial AM stations on to FM somehow in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
As an illustration I now have the same number of commercial music stations on AM/FM radio in Brisbane as I had in 1985.
1985: Radio 10, 4BK, 4BH, 4KQ, FM104
Today: B105, Triple M, 97.3, Nova and 4BH
If that’s not a regulatory and policy failure in a city that’s more than doubled in size over those 38 years I don’t know what you’d call it.
The ACMA has to differentiate the number of services on AM vs FM because of what’s happening on the AM band - either stations are dying or going so niche as to not count as ‘broadcasting’.
They wont unless they push DAB and streaming, and/or provide something really different and engaging like BBC R2. Or unless ACMA pull their fingers out and get them onto FM
This isn’t a great justification to add additional services IMO
Curious to know why. What it means is listeners are being funneled towards a diminishing number of stations in a market that has doubled in size. It means that the commercial operators aren’t operating stations for broad appeal, so new entrants should be encouraged to do so. Policy makers and regulators have a responsibility to ensure the spectrum is used efficiently to meet the greatest needs of the public - who actually own it!
While we don’t have a licencing model that factors in content output, choosing to roll out new stations because of a perception that the content is underserving the community is poor policy. That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be new services commissioned to cater to a larger audience.
SEN’s content is not to everyone’s taste - but it’s a legitimate use of spectrum that they’ve legally acquired and operate within the bounds of their licence (the reasoning for how they’ve been able to acquire the spectrum licence is a different matter entirely that needs review).
For a long time the market effectively self-regulated their own format (driven largely around ratings), but we’ve seen a shift away from that as the options for an operating model changes.
Maybe its time to change the regulation model, although I suspect that it will be met with objection from those who benefit from the current model.
Fair enough. I just think something needs to be done in terms of a policy or regulatory change as I don’t think the market is self-regulating anymore, as you point out. While I’m not entirely sure why it’s not working anymore I’m certain the slow death of AM is a big part of the problem and is distorting the landscape. I still think additional commercial FM stations will help to rebalance markets like Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide in particular.
I suspect a large part of it is that the ratings are playing less of a role in attracting sponsors/advertisers so there is less desire to reformat stations to chase listeners/dollars.
The market is still self-regulating, it’s just shifted how that works.
It sounds like you have great faith in markets. I don’t share your faith in markets to self-regulate and always benefit the community. Next you’ll tell me trickle-down economics works 
I don’t, but I also accept that just because the market offerings may not suit my taste that they’re necessarily wrong. Many of the radio offerings in this country are the product of achieving corporate targets, rather than quality output. There is little impetus to innovate because innovation often leads to new competition which is treated as undesirable
It also doesn’t help that we have a situation where we are operating pretty well at or approaching the lower limit of consolidation of voices in each market and adding new licences doesn’t necessarily change this.
I really feel like the horse has bolted on media regulation in this country - allowing the licence holders to dictate the terms for as long as they have has resulted in some incredibly poor outcomes and have left both major political parties with little political will to do anything to change the arrangements.