In 2033, you will have to go through the internet to listen to the radio and that involves some changes

The future of radio is digital. This is the meaning of the report just published by Arcom, the media regulatory authority. It sets at 2033 the disappearance of FM in favor of DAB+, the equivalent of DTT.

Radio will move from traditional analog terrestrial broadcasting to digital terrestrial broadcasting, also called DAB+ (for Digital Audio Broadcasting). A technology which offers numerous advantages to the listener, notably better sound quality where crackling would disappear. Also, we no longer need to know the frequency of a station, and listening is not interrupted on the move when we change geographical area.

Radio stations also stand to gain. Financially first, because transmission costs are lower than those of FM. But also strategically, while they are losing followers from year to year, more than 40 million people listened to the radio every day in 2021, there were only 38.7 million at the start of 2024. It is estimated that 80% of listeners listen via terrestrial and 20% via the internet, and this figure is growing very sharply.

What poses a problem with this new model is that – unlike FM – it depends on intermediaries: you have to use an access provider, generally an American giant like Google. The latter could decide, for example, to charge for the broadcasting of a station. This could therefore lead to the end of free access for listeners.

So the strategy is to make radio attractive with innovative technology. Among Arcom’s recommendations is the adaptation of quotas for French-speaking songs. Radio stations have minimums to respect, unlike streaming platforms like Spotify. This could therefore be reviewed, just like the legal notices in advertisements, that is to say the sentences to protect the consumer, sent hastily at the end of the spots. This is a pushback for the public that can be simplified.

A priori, the first thing to do is to make DAB+ better known. However, it was launched ten years ago, and it today covers 62% of the population and has been integrated into the car radios of all new cars since 2020. But, according to Arcom, only 28% of French people in have already heard about it and 11% know exactly what it is. Probably because to benefit from DAB+, you must be equipped with a suitable receiver.

However, radio manufacturers currently have no obligation to manufacture them. This new constraint appeared in the reform of public broadcasting, which should have been examined from June 24, if the Assembly had not been dissolved.