Digital killed the radio star: Opportunities for service providers

For over 80 years, people have been tuning in to FM radio for the tunes to get them through their day. But this week marks the beginning of the end of FM. The government of Norway has announced they were beginning the shutdown of broadcast FM radio throughout the country, a process which will be complete by the end of 2017.

They won’t be shutting down broadcast radio, just moving it to Digital Audio Broadcasting – or DAB – which offers more channels, better audio quality and cost savings for broadcasters which can be invested in more content development. The government estimates this move to save more than $23.5 million a year.

So this seems like a win-win: consumers get more, higher quality content, and broadcasters save money. But a third winner here may actually be service providers because they have an opportunity here to offer new services, add value, and fill in critical consumption gaps that will result from the FM radio shutdown. So how can they capitalize on this opportunity?

• Fill in the critical services gap: Imagine a world where you couldn’t rock out in your car in your own personal Carpool Karaoke That is what might happen to millions of people without DAB receivers in their vehicles. But as bad as it might be to not be able to listen to music on your commute, FM radio is also a key source of news, traffic and emergency broadcast, making it a critical service. Service providers can provide radio services that can be used on any device which go beyond just streaming music playlists, to streaming live and emergency services broadcasts.


• Market the value of these services: There is a monetary value to this type of service as well. The Norwegian government is recommending that people purchase adapters for digital broadcasts for their vehicles which can cost around $1,500. But if service providers can provide a similar service on the ubiquitous smartphone, then they can actually save their customers money.


• Be the hero: People love to complain about their service providers, so it’s rare for service providers to get the opportunity to come in and save the day but this might just be one of those opportunities – Norwegian tabloid newspaper Dagbladet reported that two-thirds of respondents in a recent survey opposed the forced switch from FM. Here come the service providers to the rescue!

Other countries will be watching this move carefully and reports are that Switzerland, Denmark and the UK are also considering an FM switch-off as well – so while Norway is leading the charge, it looks like other markets might follow.

Service providers around the world are no strangers to partnering with streaming music and content providers, but here’s an opportunity to enrich their offerings with streaming of live, local broadcasts as well. There are some examples of this type of service in the wild, such as this one from Orange, but more service providers should take advantage of the move to digital to get ahead of a coming shift in traditional content consumption.

This article was originally published in Amdocs Voices