Romania

[RO] Introduction of Digital Radio with Additional Services

IRIS 2005-9:1/34

Mariana Stoican

Journalist, Bucharest

After digital television was introduced in Romania through the private DigiTV service, several radio stations are now also being broadcast via both analogue and digital signals.

Since the beginning of July 2005, the Societatea Naţională de Radiocomunicaţii (Romanian Radio Company - SNR), an independent firm and currently Romania's only operator of transmission equipment for public service broadcasters, has also been offering T-DAB services for the transmission of commercial radio stations alongside its existing services. Digital broadcasting offers improved sound quality, particularly on car radios, thanks to the removal of the so-called "Doppler effect".

A host of additional services (some audiovisual) can also be received, such as images, traffic information or emergency messages.

So far, five radio stations are broadcasting digitally in Romania: Radio Români a Actualităţi (the main national public service radio station) România Muzical (national public service music station), Antena Bucureştiului (Bucharest's local public service station) and the commercial broadcasters “ Radio Romantic ” and “ Radio Pro FM ”.

At present, the only digital receivers available in Romania are car radios. Nevertheless, the Romanian Radio Company, which is soon to be privatised, is planning to extend this pilot programme to include individual television channels over the next few months.