Channel 4 announced yesterday that it’s scrapping plans for a network of digital radio stations.
This is seen as a major blow to the growth of commercial DAB radio. Channel 4 originally had plans for a number of stations, but this was scaled back to just three stations a few months back. This left the stations: e4 Radio (a youth station due to launch in Spring 2009), Channel 4 Radio (the flagship speech station) and Pure 4 (a music station)
Channel 4 blamed the economic downturn and has recently announced its intention to shed 15% of its workforce to save costs.
The group 4 Digital Radio won a license to run a second national network of DAB stations, with other stations from broadcasters including Bauer Radio and Sky. It’s not clear what will now happen to that license now that Global Radio and Channel 4 radio have lost interest in offering national DAB stations.
Not a good time in invest in buying a DAB radio at the moment…
