In what iBiquity (the intellectual property holder behind HD Radio) is calling a "watershed moment" in the history of digital broadcasting, a Swiss station has purchased and is broadcasting on the first HD radio transmitter in Europe. 

88 Radio Sunshine exists in a portion of the Alps where FM signals are spaced only 100 kHz apart on the dial, and several months of testing were performed before the announcement of the new signal at HD Radio Days, a conference in Lucerne, Switzerland this week.

"BE's implementation of the HD Radio system easily met all our digital requirements, even exceeding technical expectations despite our mountainous coverage area," said Markus Ruoss, principal owner of 88 Radio Sunshine, a private commercial radio station located in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Field-strength measurements of HD Radio broadcasts on Radio Sunshine exceeded acceptable levels, giving the station a green light to begin uninterrupted HD Radio broadcasts on its main and eventually some of its 12 boosters and translators in the region. Radio Sunshine is operating HD Radio broadcasting under voluntary status with the Switzerland Office for Communication (OFCOM).

Until now I hadn't been aware of any plans to use iBiquity's HD Radio system in Europe. The addition of some European markets to the consumer base for recievers could help being down prices, which are still a major hurdle for consumer adoption in the US.

Read the press release here.

I reported over on The Digital Music Weblog that UBC is preparing to offer on the go downloads directly from your digital radio reciever. You'll soon be able to listen to a digital radio station, hear a song your like and purchase it on the spot to be downloaded to your choice of portable player at a later time.

I point out some issues with it, and I can't exactly call my self jealous of the UBC offering. One thing however bugs me, and it's becoming a constant theme. The US has entirely botched the roll-out of HD radio, first by chosing the wrong format (causing more expensive radios and incompatibility between the US and Canada) and we're going to pay for it in the long run. SIRIUS and XM are able to thrive not only because they offer uncensored content, but becuase they offer a level of choice that you simply cannot cram into the space between 87.9 and 107.9 on the dial.

Europe is already getting a taste of what can be done, and digital radio sales are soaring. New technologies are being built around the digital delivery system, and more are surely to come. Will the US miss the boat entirely, just like we've missed out on RDS (the Radio Data System for in car delivery of text information)?

[via The Digital Music Weblog]

On Friday, Ofcom, the UK's Office of Communications, announced they would auction 40 MHz of radio spectrum, from 1452 to 1492 MHz in the first quarter of next year. The upper 12.5 MHz would be dedicated to satellite radio, which is a pan-European requirement as regulated by the ITU. The UK is required to protect that block from interference with neighboring countries' satellite radio. The rest of the spectrum is unrestricted and technology neutral, a free-for-all. BT's Movio, a mobile digital TV product based on the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) standard, works in that lower block of spectrum, as do mobile TV systems based on DVB-H and wireless broadband based on WiMax. Ofcom is willing to break up the lower block of spectrum into multiple lots, and licenses would be good for a minimum of 15 years. Responses to Ofcom's Consultation (i.e. public comment period) must be in by June of this year.

[via ZDNet UK]

US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has publicly supported Apple Computer on the issue of the proposed French law that will, among other things, allow Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies to be legally circumvented. Secretary Gutierrez said that more study is needed but "any time something like this happens, any time that we believe that intellectual property rights are being violated, we need to speak up..." The law, which was passed by France's lower house last week, would both make it legal to break open DRM technologies and also force music download services to only sell music files that would work on any digital music player. Both of these conditions rub Apple the wrong way because songs sold by iTunes can only be played back on the iPod, and, more importantly, the law would allow consumers to break songs out of their DRM wrapper and share them more easily (sharing and downloading would still be illegal, but with relatively low fines). Apple has called the proposed law "state-sponsored piracy."

[via MobileMag]

After an analyst lowered his rating from Buy to Neutral, share prices of international satellite radio service Worldspace fell 21% on Friday to $9.15, down 37% so far this year. "We cannot recommend purchase until acceptable price points and churn rates become more apparent," the analyst said. Worldspace is the only provider of satellite radio outside of North America, South Korea, and Japan, broadcasting to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. XM took a $25 million stake in Worldspace last year before they went public, and they currently operate stations with Worldcast that are broadcast to their American subscribers. Worldspace claims that they are responsible for 10% of XM's original content and music programming. Worldspace offers channels such as CNNi, BBC, NPR, Fox News, Fox Sports, Virgin Radio UK, as well as Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Nigerian, and French programming.

On March 16th, the France's National Assembly will vote on a law that would force music download services to sell music that would be compatible with all portable players. This notably affects Apple, whose iTunes store sells music that can only be played on iPods. The law would also reduce fines for illegally sharing and downloading music. Further, the law would decriminalize the creation and use of software to crack DRM schemes open. It's like the French Freddy Krueger went into the sleeping minds of record company executives and pulled out their nightmares in the form of French law. Leave it to the contrarian legislators of France - the same people who brought you total intolerance of religious symbols in public schools - to come up with a plan that is totally intolerant of the wishes of the recording industry. Um, you go, France?

UPDATE, 3/21: The National Assembly, France's lower house, approved the bill 296-193.