Radio: New licence to spark new era for digital radio.

Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan believes the arrival of a third national digital multiplex, which Ofcom is expected to advertise this week, will push digital radio to a tipping point, both in technology uptake and content delivery.

Speaking at The Radio Academy's Radio At The Edge Conference last Thursday, Duncan said the new multiplex would encourage manufacturers to put DAB chips into mobile phones and car radios, helping drive the uptake of DAB devices in the UK exponentially from the current 3.5m to 50m or 100m in the next five years. He suggested the new multiplex would also help the commercial sector win back share from the BBC, and also help the wider commercial radio sector by pioneering new models of financing.

Channel 4 became the first group back in June to announce it would be bidding for the multiplex licence with plans to operate between five and 10 services, offering a combination of music and speech-based radio.

Duncan said Channel 4 plans to bring the policy of innovation which it has displayed in television to the radio world, to the benefit of all. "Channel 4 keeps the BBC in television in much ...