Dated: 18 July 2006
Singapore’s sole subscription radio broadcaster, Rediffusion, today launched ten channels on their Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) service, establishing Singapore on the world map as the first country to introduce subscription digital radio service.
The development came a year after the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) awarded Rediffusion a DAB multiplex licence in April 2005. Rediffusion has since developed a set of DAB receivers encrypted with conditional access for the wireless pay services application, making it the world’s first and only digital DAB conditional access system for the mass market. Currently, Rediffusion offers only the hi-fi receiver. It plans to offer in-car adaptors, home adaptors and portable hand-held receivers by end of the year. The technology behind these receivers is developed entirely in Singapore.
Said Dr Christopher Chia, MDA’s Chief Executive Officer, “MDA supports the research and development of new digital media technologies and services. We congratulate Rediffusion for pioneering a new business model for digital radio services and for designing the world’s first DAB conditional access technology. The achievements of Rediffusion clearly demonstrate that companies can use Singapore as a test-bed for new media services. We encourage more industry players to come forward with innovative proposals that can provide our consumers with wider choices and better quality services.”
One of the DAB channels Rediffusion unveiled today is SOAR (School On Air Rediffusion), which will begin operation this September. Operating out of a digital sound studio at Gongshang Primary School, the channel will feature teaching materials specially integrated with the school curriculum and programmes which are researched, written and presented on air by the students under the guidance of their teachers. The innovative project helped the school clinched the Thinking Culture (National Level) Award at the Ministry of Education’s ExCEL Fest 2006 earlier this month.
”MDA applauds Rediffusion and Gongshang Primary School for jointly developing an audio channel that provides both educational content and an enriching recreational environment for our children. By giving students a hands-on experience in the production and presentation of radio programmes, it nurtures an appreciation and understanding of how all of us can experience media in our work, learning and play. This supports MDA’s objective of promoting media literacy among our student population and the community at large,” added Dr Chia.
MDA has been spearheading the deployment and adoption of DAB technology nationwide, which has been identified as a key technology to propel the local media industry into the digital age and enhance Singapore’s position as a broadcasting hub. DAB is a significant advancement in radio technology, offering CD-quality, interference-free sound under virtually all conditions, even in moving vehicles. DAB also has the potential to offer much more than the normal radio with the capability to supplement audio services with text, graphics and moving pictures through a LCD display.
The first DAB licence in Singapore was issued to free-to-air radio broadcaster MediaCorp Radio in 1999, making Singapore the first country in Asia to embrace commercial DAB. Last year, MediaCorp Radio was awarded a second DAB multiplex and its DAB service now carries six DAB stations and offers simulcast of eight of its most popular FM stations.
For more information on Rediffusion’s DAB services, please visit www.rediffusion.com.sg
For more information, please contact:
Ms Chia Pei Siang
Manager, Communications
Media Development Authority
Tel: (+65) 6837 9010
HP: (+65) 9368 9920
Email: chia_pei_siang@imda.gov.sg
Ms Phoebe Seow
Assistant Director, Communications
Media Development Authority
Tel: (+65) 6837 9369
Email: phoebe_seow@imda.gov.sg
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