Nine new organisations have joined WorldDAB since the start of 2018, taking its membership to 104 organisations from 29 countries. Italian public broadcaster Rai, vehicle manufacturers General Motors and Toyota, Croatian network operator Transmitters and Communications Ltd., content service provider Pluxbox, automotive solution providers Nextbase and In2digi and professional equipment manufacturers Avateq Corp. and Inovonics […]
Sweety High, a digital media company for Gen Z girls, has released its first Gen Z Music Consumption & Spending Report, which reveals research around the preferences of the powerhouse cohort. According to the report, while YouTube ranks as the top platform for music discovery (75 per cent), more than half of respondents also cite Radio […]
Apple Music says it has reached 36 million subs globally (which is up on the “over 30 million” mentioned at the end of September by the company). A report from equity analysts at investment bank Exane/BNPP says that this equates to roughly 12+ million net new subs in a full year. Although still well down […]
In a growing sign of fiscal health at pay-radio broadcasters SiriusXM, its Board has approved a $2 billion boost to its existing share buy-back programme. The programme has been in place since early 2013 and the total spent or available now tops $12 billion. SiriusXM in an SEC filing says the commitment reflects the board’s […]
HomePod, the wireless speaker from Apple, arrives in stores from February 9th and is available to order online this from January 26th in the US, UK and Australia. HomePod will arrive in France and Germany in the spring. Apple says its HomePod delivers “stunning audio quality wherever it’s placed — in any room in the […]
David Frear, CFO and SEVP at pay-radio operator SiriusXM, says the business now has more than 100 million vehicles on the road, and is targeting 185 million within the next 8 years. “We’re just a cashflow machine,” he said. SiriusXM had earlier reported that it added 1.56 million gross subs last year (net additions of […]
Greek public broadcaster ERT has started test digital radio transmissions. ERT has added transmitters to its broadcast towers on Mt Ymittos which overlooks Athens. Test transmissions will use DAB+ technology in frequency block 12C, although various bit-rates will be trialled. A bill regulating future digital radio frequencies has been recently introduced in the Greek parliament. […]
Steve Bannon, formerly Donald Trump’s chief strategist, didn’t have the best of days on January 9th. He lost his job as executive chairman of the controversial Breitbart News when its backers pulled their funding, reportedly extremely unhappy at his disparaging comments about the president and his family. Then, pay-radio operator SiriusXM dropped him from their […]
Music Business Worldwide (MBW) is reporting that music streaming service has added some 20 million paying subscribers since March last year. MBW says Spotify now counts 70 million subscribers. Equity analysts at investment bank Exane/BNPP say this is clearly good news for Spotify, but also helps Vivendi-backed Universal Music Group (UMG). “Spotify is the largest […]
The BBC has launched its first full voice app for voice-controlled smart speakers, an Amazon Alexa skill for Echo devices, with other smart speakers coming in future. It brings the BBC’s full range of live radio stations – including all local, national and international radio – to Echo and Alexa users for the first time, […]