The electronics manufacturer Technisat, which produces radios in Schöneck in the Vogtland region, is building on further growth through digital reception via DAB+. Since the introduction of this broadcasting standard, around 16 million devices have been sold in Germany, Managing Director Stefan Kön told the German Press Agency. And in future, these radios could also play an important role in alerting the population in the event of a disaster. In Kön's view, however, a binding date is finally needed for the switch-off of analog FM. He hopes this will give an additional boost to the spread of digital reception.
In Saxony, the plan is actually to switch off FM at the end of 2025. But the date is shaky. A draft by the governing coalition plans to remove the date from the Private Broadcasting Act. "This deletion is intended to continue to take into account the diversity of radio programs in the Free State of Saxony," it says. The law is now to be amended in the first half of 2024.
There are good arguments in favor of DAB+, explained the State Chancellery in response to a dpa query. These include a greater variety of programs, lower distribution costs and high reception quality. However, FM is still the most frequently used type of reception and a statutory switch-off date would lead to a loss of coverage, it said.
