Future analogue radio licence consultation

[biggiedan]

A number of FM and AM licenses are due to expire from early 2022 and the government is starting public consultation on whether analogue licenses should be renewed for a further period and if so, how long they should be renewed for.

The current options that have been proposed are:

1. Do nothing and allow licences to expire and be re-advertised by Ofcom
2. Allow the renewal of licences for a further 5 years
3. Allow the renewal of licences for a further 8 years

Personally i think they should just let the licenses expire in 2022 and free up the band for anyone to use, but of course that is hardly likely to happen and i reckon they will end up auctioning it off to the highest bidder.

Source: https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/12/govern ... o-licences

[Albert H]

They'll want to raise as much money as they can muster. The big players have huge budgets and can just swallow up more small stations and turn them into "Heart", "Gold" or "Capital". This could mean the end of the small independent stations on Band II. Most of the AM stations have died out (apart from the ubiquitous God-Botherers). They won't allow Caroline any more power, despite them being good boys for the last couple of years - they're just a pretty ropey "Community" station, with a signal that reaches most of East Anglia in the daytime and can't be heard off their site at night.

All the pirates will pretty much give up free radiating "radio" - there's little point in risking the enormous fines and hassle. It's easy to set up an internet station, and with the right promotion, you can get a worldwide audience if you're any good.