MILAN — BBC World Service and EuroDAB Italia have entered into an agreement to broadcast the global network’s rich mix of BBC News, documentaries, business, sports, arts and science programs as a new service included in EuroDAB Italia’s DAB+ multiplex.
On Oct 9, Mary Hockaday, controller of BBC World Service English, and Lorenzo Suraci, president of EuroDAB Italia, officially launched the new service and presented the vision behind this agreement and their expectations for the future.
TRUSTED BRANDS
Although about 30% of Italians can speak some English, including a large part of the younger generation, no English-speaking service is at present broadcast in Italy on regular basis.
“We live in a world with an infinite number of information sources and making a choice among those sources often makes us feel confused,” Hockaday said. “It’s wonderful to have such a diversity, but in this surrounding noise actually many people seek trusted brands, and they seek media and information they can trust.”
According to Hockaday, trust is at the heart of what BBC and BBC World Service can offer, including “accurate and impartial means and good information.”
In a world where everyone can have on his or her smartphone a multitude of headlines and news from all over the world and from as many different sources, Hockaday emphasized how hard the BBC World Service works to provide their listeners with a rich editorial mix with news but also information on business, sports, culture, technology, politics and stories.
DIGITAL CAPABILITY
“Whenever you turn on the radio, you will always find something engaging, informing, delighting and feeding curiosity within our offer ,” she concluded.
“We are very proud that BBC World Service choose the EuroDAB digital network to broadcast its content in Italy,” added Suraci. “It improves and extends the offer of the contents of our bouquet and helps the radio, in general, in an increasingly global world.”
DAB+ broadcasts are already available to 80% of Italians and that percentage is set to grow due to the Italian legislative requirement for all radios sold in Italy from Jan. 1 2020 to have digital capability.
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In Italy, 46% of new cars are now sold with DAB+ as standard, and according to the Italian media regulator AGCOM, radio is the second most frequently used media after television, while 68% of the population listens to radio for an average of 2.5 hours per day.
