Harvey Norman and Bush Australia, distributors of the Grundig brand, are preparing to introduce a range of DAB+ digital radios in time for the 1 January 2009 digital broadcasting launch.
Government legislation passed in 2007 has mandated that free-to-air digital radio broadcasts are required to begin on 1 January, 2009. According to Digital Radio Australia, which is an industry body that promotes digital radio in Australia, under the legislation, it is anticipated that the ‘stage 1’ launch will see an initial roll out of services on select major radio stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.
Digital radio broadcasts will be free-to-air and listeners will tune to a pre-set station and the digital radio will deliver the best available signal. Individual stations will decide how they will fully use the new technology, but digital radio has the potential to offer everything from ‘rewind radio’ to real time traffic images, downloadable songs and audience interaction.
Bush Australia has been working in close cooperation with Harvey Norman in order to draw from the experience of DAB radio in the UK, where Grundig is a leading supplier.
‘”We’re working quite heavily with Harvey Norman to ensure that we have product before Christmas, so people are ready for that launch in January,” said Bush Australia managing director, Daniel Todd.
“I was instrumental in the roll out of DAB in the UK, so I’ve experienced what digital radio can do for the radio industry; so we’re 100 per cent behind it and we’re really looking forward to the lunch.
“We already have a very large arsenal of DAB products which we sell in the UK and other countries in Europe, and most of those are upgradeable to DAB+. So we already have a products from kitchen radios, to clock radios to in-car, to iPod accessories, which we’ll be able to launch.
The uptake of digital radio in the UK has boomed according to Todd.
“The latest figures from the UK is that by the end of 2006 they’d sold three million units. The DAB market was worth $143 million pounds and there were over 200 DAB products available to buy.
“Interestingly, it took five years to get to one million pieces in the UK, and then it only took another nine months to get to two million and a further five months to reach three million.
According to Todd, the key to DAB+ radio uptake in Australia will be education and entry level price points.
“What needs to happen is education,” Todd said. “We need to teach people exactly what is DAB+ radio, what is digital radio and the difference between digital radio and analogue radio — and Harvey Norman are behind that.
“From experience, the products that make the DAB market work, and in fact any market work, are those entry level products that encourage people to get into the technology and then they buy up to better quality, bigger pictures, whatever it is they want to utilise.”
Todd suggested that this is an opportunity for retailers who will be able to profit from a new product category.
“It reinvigorated the audio market which can tend to be a bit stagnant when nothing new comes out,” Todd said. “Just from seeing this in the UK, if I was a retailer I would be incredibly excited by this, especially when most retailers are focusing on very low margin LCD TV sales — this should really help them.”