Mid and West Wales Submission

Yesterday we submitted our application for the Mid and West Wales multiplex licence (a day early!) with partners in the area – Town and Country Broadcasting Ltd.

At first glance the multiplex does not seem as full as some of our recent applications with a transmission plan that does not cover the entire area. I just wanted to write a blog post that explained some of the reasons why this is the case and highlight the fact that what we have submitted is very much a starting point, with our objective to expand both the coverage and number of services over the licence term. Indeed, we will hopefully have some good news before the licence even goes on air.

Mid Wales, in particular, is not a an easy area to cover. Our estimates showed that to even begin making in-roads into this area, and starting to bring a service to the 150,000 people there, would require more than five transmitter sites. Due to a lack of interest from new services to cover this area, it meant that coverage would be uneconomical to commit to at this time. Indeed, we’re not sure that any traditional funding model would make it possible to bring any services to this area. We are however exploring a number of non-traditional options with our colleagues at the BBC to find a way to fund a roll-out to this area. As these plans have not been firmed up at this time, we put in a transmission plan that we knew we could deliver at launch.

Ideally we would also like to broadcast a number of additional stations in the area, both existing analogue and some new services too.  Whilst we’ve had some good discussions with potential operators, we’re not yet in a place where we can guarantee that we will be bringing them to the area. Though saying that, we hope that we’ll have some announcements about new additions in the next few months.

When we started MuxCo we always new that some areas would take a little longer to sort out than others. Wales has not been in the fast track for development of digital broadcasting and as such has a much lower penetration of receivers – indeed, why buy one if you can’t pick up much! It will therefore take a little longer for new stations to have enough listeners to hit their business plan targets and that affects what we can announce today. What this definitley isn’t, is a result of any recent announcements from other operators, it is more finding the right model for the local players in the market at the right time.

So, please look at our application – transmitters, services and timings – as something we know we can deliver on day one, rather than what we hope we can deliver when the multiplex goes live. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

10 thoughts on “Mid and West Wales Submission

  1. matt Post author

    Hi Grimmy, unfortunately we can’t make stations come on board and Real aren’t keen at the moment. However – the best thing to do is contact stations directly to encourage them to broadcast in a new area.

    Reply
  2. huw

    How come Blaenplwyf mast isn’t being included? This broadcasts to the main town in west wales (Aberystwyth) and for miles down the cardigan coast – I can even get an incar signal from it most of the way out to llangurig.

    Reply
  3. Ash

    Just because an area has good FM coverage from one transmitter does not mean DAB will be the same and vice versa. The same also applies to different DAB frequencies, there may be a restriction on coverage for the one Ofcom have given that make coverage unviable for the cost.

    Reply
  4. Michael

    Real Radio would not be broadcasting in a new arear if they were added would they.

    They are already up there at 105.2 105.7 106.2

    Reply
  5. Martin

    the digital one service from blaen blwyf is awful once u get 2 – miles out of aberysthwyth, I fully understand why they dont want to use it, i have a professionally fitted dab aerial which works works excellent, but not in aberysthwyth surrounding areas. bbc multiplex on the other hand from blaen is excellent

    Reply

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