Dec. 21 is a big day for digital radio in Europe. All radios in new cars and other passenger vehicles must be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.
That stipulation is part of the European Electronic Communications Code, and digital radio proponents have been looking forward to it.
WorldDAB, which has said that DAB is “firmly established as the core future platform for radio in Europe,” welcomed the milestone date.
“Despite the impact of Covid-19, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Denmark have already introduced laws mandating digital terrestrial radio in cars and other countries are expected to follow shortly,” the organization stated.
“In the first half of 2020, over 50% of new cars sold in Europe included DAB+ as standard — a number that is expected to reach 100% by the end of 2021 as DAB+ adoption continues to grow across Europe.” It has a factsheet about the EECC rule.
Meanwhile the proponents of the Digital Radio Mondiale platform have said they too welcomed the EECC initiative because it “serves as a good example to all the countries and administrations around the world adopting or considering the rollout of DRM technology.”
