MEDIA RELEASE

EN

The Association of European Radios (AER), representing more than 4500 commercially-funded radios from all across Europe, recalled the industry’s guiding principles on EU spectrum management at the EU Radio Spectrum Summit of March 22nd and 23rd:

- First, commercially-funded radios need guaranteed access to spectrum, in all bands planned in the ITU negotiations: regulation must be tailored to local needs in order to allow the best possible development
- Second, no universal switch-off date for analogue radio services can currently be envisaged and decision on standards to be used for digital broadcasting of radio should be left to the industry on a country-by-country basis.
- Third, any shift towards digital broadcasting of radio will most likely require a long process. Decision on the adequate time-frame should be left to each national industry: as a matter of principle, transition to any improved digital broadcasting system should benefit from a long time-frame, unless there is industry agreement to move at a faster rate.

As Vincent Sneed, AER EU Policy Adviser, mentioned during the Radio Spectrum Summit, the AER position papers at www.aereurope.org show that commercially-funded radios have been discussing the issue for some time and are indeed taking steps, at national level.

AER takes good note of the Spanish Secretary of State, Telecommunications and Information Society, Francisco Ros Perán’s suggestion to study the situation of digital radio in the EU.

AER also warmly welcomes the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) Chairman Roberto Viola’s statement: “RSPG is tackling this year the issue of radio broadcasting. This does not mean, as was read in some websites, that RSPG wants to close FM. RSPG wants just to discuss on radio technologies, on what is the future of radio”.

Most of AER Members are SMEs, and are local or regional players. Together with the public broadcasters, private and commercial radios constitute the unique European mix, safeguarding current cultural diversity and creativity, and preserving media pluralism.

Although radio might not evoke spontaneously the most modern medium, it has, for decades, been granted with all its attributes: ubiquitous, mobile, simple-to-use and free-to-air. These features also make radio the most intimate medium. Radio listeners thereby access programming they enjoy, and useful information. Radio plays a fundamental role in today’s society: it is often quoted as the most trusted medium by citizens and is entrusted with many public interest obligations. It therefore needs exclusive access to spectrum, managed by EU Member States.

It should be underlined that, in most of Europe, currently and for the foreseeable future, there is only one viable business model: free-to-air FM broadcasting. This is done on Band II, which only represents 20,5 MHz. Across Europe, nearly every single frequency is used in this bandwidth. Thanks to the broad receiver penetration and the very high usage by the listeners this small bandwidth is very efficiently used.
However, as consumers’ habits are changing, radios need to develop on digital platforms: on-air or internet-based commercially-funded digital radio has not yet achieved widespread take up across European territories. These two means of transmission will be part of the patchwork of transmission techniques for commercially-funded radios in the future, but it is hard to foresee when.

The switch to digital technology will take long and burdensome investments. And, as mentioned earlier, private and commercial radios are mainly SMEs, who can only broadcast programmes free of charge to millions of European citizens, thanks to the revenues they collect by means of advertising. In 2009, these revenues have dropped from 10 to 30% compared to 2008 depending on the EU Member State.

Created in 1992, the Association of European Radios (AER) is a Europe-wide trade body representing the interests of over 4,500 private/commercial radio stations across the EU27 and in Switzerland.

AER is an EEIG whose main objective is to develop and defend the most suitable framework for private commercial radio activity. AER constantly follows EU actions in the fields of media, telecommunications and private radio transmission, in order to contribute, to enrich and to foster the radio sector.

ENDS
29/03/2010

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Association Coordinator / EU Policy Adviser: Mr. Vincent Sneed.
Telephone: +32 2 736 91 31
Fax: +32 2 732 89 90
E-mail: vincent.sneed @ aereurope.org
For more information on AER: www.aereurope.org