Radio industry plans analogue scrappage scheme for digital switchover
The UK radio industry is hoping to copy the Government's popular car scrappage scheme to persuade listeners to go digital, according to the Media Guardian.
The idea is that you'd get a 20 per cent discount on a new DAB radio if you trade in an old analogue one. There are thought to be around 100 million analogue radios still in circulation.
A spokeswoman for Digital Radio UK, the body driving digital switchover, says: "It is something we are looking at, something we'd like to do."
Digital radio UK has already had exploratory talks with top retailers, including Currys, and leading manufacturers.
"The idea is that stores will accept analogue sets in part-exchange for new digital models, which will be far cheaper by the time the analogue signal is switched off," says a radio industry source.
The Government has set a date of 2015 for turning off analogue radio signals.
Follow whathifi.com on Twitter
Comments
At the moment, and as I understand it, there's no direct suggestion of public money being used to fund this scheme, although the original Digital Britain report did suggest some assistance with buying digital radios for those in need nearer the switchover date.
I am sure the industry would love to get the tax payer (us) to pay for yet load of surplus hardware that they can't sell. DAB is a deeply flawed system that doesn't actually work. Why are we still being into a 2015 changeover when half the smaller independent DAB stations are shutting down?
Where are the howls of protest as we walk blindly into another government sponsored, tax payer funded fiasco.
What about DAB +, Surely thats the way to go or internet radio. DAB has poor sound quality (compressed sound), whereas FM doesn't.
What about my car radio which is FM? If its attached to the car can I have a new car as well?!