This came as no surprise to me, as I mentioned here (digital radio thread) a few weeks ago, DAB+ isn’t the preferred industry digital platform, it’s the preferred platform for CRA, but no one else, & it’s not in the best interests of the commercial stations they supposedly represent.
CBAA, ABC/SBS & even ACMA would prefer DRM, even the head engineer who designs the DAB+ network for CRA said to me DRM should be used in Australia, definitely regionally, but it’s dirty word & don’t mention it around CRA.
In the short, medium or long term, DAB+ won’t roll out to regional areas, because CRA thought ABC/SBS would pay for all the TX’s & they’d piggyback on the mux, but ABC said get stuffed, if we do it we’ll be using our own Nationals only mux on 9C, & the commercial stations regionally can’t afford the costs to do DAB+ on their own, in a lot of cases the one company (solus markets) footing the bill for an entire mux with very little content on it.
There’s no way SCA can afford that now, & hell will freeze over before the Government pays for it, with all the debt they’ve got now, propping up the economy from Coronavirus.