The planned switch over to digital radio by the government has been delayed due to a lack of support from the manufacturing industry. Car manufacturers have been surveyed and at least half are avoiding the new technology.
2015 had been earmarked as the year that analogue radio would cease to exist, but a slow take up has led to predictions that this will not happen until 2017. Auto Express have carried out a survey which has revealed that half of the twenty four mainstream manufacturers do not have digital radio units available for their models as standard or as an option. Of new vehicles which have been registered in 2011, 60% did not come with optional digital radio.
Hyundai, Nissan, Fiat and Citroen are just a few of the manufacturers who have steered clear of the new technology. A spokesman for Citroen stated that digital radios were neither fitted nor optional and no dates had been put forward for this to happen.
The switch over is reliant on meeting key targets involving a percentage of listeners doing so through digital platforms, digital coverage equalling FM coverage and local digital coverage reaching 90% of the populace as well as all main roads.
Manufacturers, broadcasters and retailers make up Digital Radio UK who say that the Government will have to revise plans for the switch over. A predicted loss of audience has prompted conjecture that digital services and FM will run alongside each other for an extended period.
Julie Sinclair, News and Features Editor of Auto Express News, commented that the government should consider subsidising the switch over in view of the lack of interest from the motor industry, indicating hard up motorists will be even harder to convince.