Google translated from French:
Resumption or a simple reprieve for the medium waves of Liblice, near Český Brod? We remember that the 750 kW Tesla SRV 750 transmitter had been dismantled and that the antenna had been saved at the last moment.
České Radiokomunikace (CRA) then re-equipped the Liblice station to broadcast COUNTRY RADIO on 639 Khz instead of Prague Zbraslav on 1062 KHz. .
Why carry out this operation? CRA wanted to urgently transform the Prague transmitter Zbraslav into a data center. To do this, he had to wait until the end of the Country Radio contract in 2025.
The demand for data being enormous is very rewarding financially, it was less expensive to move Country.
CRA therefore did not hesitate to install a modern transmitter in Liblice. A transmitter which allows operating savings because Zbraslav’s consumption was high, like the old Liblice transmitter, which ended its life in scrap. We even made a second transmitter available to the radio in České Budějovice on 954 kHz: a modern transmitter, of very low power, which cost nothing, since it was used for the DRM tests which had just been carried out. stop!
CRA thus respects the current contract, but nothing is guaranteed beyond 2025 and a thousand questions arise:
Will the radio group Radio United Broadcasting, owner of Country Radio, request a continuation of the contract?
Will CRA offer a new contract on similar terms, given that astronomical costs must be incurred on the mast infrastructure?
Will the authorities take charge of the mast rehabilitation work?
There is always the possibility of reducing the height of a mast or installing a new lower one, unless Country installs its own transmitter!
To all these questions, two other factors must also be taken into account:
CRA is no longer Czech: Since May 2021 it has been acquired by CDIL (Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited). Cordiant is an “operationally specialized investor in digital infrastructure” trust headquartered in Guernsey (a tax haven between England and France). Its goal is financial and not philanthropic, sentimental or patriotic.
Currently CRA is offering part of the site for sale: several building plots and buildings initially used for the operation of the transmitter.
Radio United Broadcasting is interested in DAB+, but told digital.rozhlas.cz that it was “as a complement to analogue terrestrial broadcasting”. RUB did not specify whether terrestrial analog included medium wave after 2025 for Country. If it wishes to continue, in the absence of an agreement with CRA, it can also become its own operator, on a new site.
For its part, CRA does not rule out the possibility of converting to DRM, given the good results of the tests carried out at the start of the year. The company puts a caveat: “if DRM receivers are available in Europe”. FYI, they already are via the Internet! All that is missing is a willingness on the part of broadcasters to use the standard so that importers and manufacturers can align, as was done for DAB+.
You should also know that in the European recommendation on the ban on the sale of unsuitable receivers, DAB+ is not mentioned, we are talking about digital radio, which includes DRM if it is used for broadcasting. Furthermore, the production of a DAB+ DRM receiver would not lead to increases in manufacturing costs.
Radio Magazine FB group (2024-04-25)