Radio Festival: Carter's switchover plan ambitious, says Davie

Speaking at The Radio Festival, The Radio Academy's annual event in Nottingham, Davie said he was "hopeful" and the switchover "should provide the action needed".

Communications Minister Lord Carter this month outlined plans to shut down AM by 2015 in his Digital Britain report.

Stuart Taylor, chief executive of GMG Radio, welcomed the switchover date, saying, "we cannot carry on with dual transmission". Simon Cole, chief executive of UBC Media Group, agreed the analogue signal "needs to be switched off".

Meanwhile, Taylor said ads on commercial digital radio should not be sold at a discount, and radio, whether analogue, DAB or online, should be treated the same. He said: "One listener, one price. A listener is a listener and that's how [GMG Radio] is selling it."

Panelists agreed that the cost of digital transmission should be paid for by both the commercial sector and the BBC.

Andrew Harrison, chief executive of commercial radio industry body RadioCentre, said the commercial radio sector would invest "where viable", but if digital transmission was "public policy, it should come out of the public purse".

When questioned about the larger amount of energy used for DAB transmission, Davie said energy consumption was a big issue, but added that transmission power should go down as DAB sets became more widespread.

Harrison said the switchover date gave "one brief to manufacturers" and the "market of 40 million car owners and its equivalent number of sets" should encourage manufacturers to invest in DAB.