The end of FM: The long road to the end of the short wave

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In Switzerland and Schleswig-Holstein, there have recently been concrete plans for the end of FM radio broadcasting: In Germany's northernmost federal state, broadcasters will gradually phase out analog broadcasting between 2025 and 2031, while in Switzerland the SRG will stop broadcasting at the end of 2024 and private broadcasters will follow by the end of 2026. If everything goes as planned, radio will then only be available via DAB+, cable or the internet.

However, Schleswig-Holstein and Switzerland are exceptions in the German-speaking world. In the remaining federal states and in Austria, there are still no timetables for the FM phase-out, despite the high costs of parallel broadcasting via FM and the digital DAB+ method.

Politicians are not pushing for the end of FM

Broadcasting is a matter for the federal states in Germany. In a survey conducted by c't among the 15 federal states south of Schleswig-Holstein, no state government named a target date for the FM phase-out. Many of the government spokespersons did point to the advantages of DAB+, such as the more efficient use of scarce frequency resources, the lower energy requirements on the broadcasting side, the lower distribution costs or the EWF emergency warning function. However, most people in Germany still listen via FM today.

According to the Audio Trends 2023 study by the state media authorities, 86% of households own at least one FM radio, but only 33% own a DAB+-capable device, including car radios. Most state governments also emphasize this fact: "FM is still the most widely used distribution channel for radio reception. For private radio broadcasters in particular, it is the backbone of refinancing on the advertising market," writes the Berlin Senate, for example.

Protests from private broadcasters

The reluctance of politicians is also due to the fact that previous attempts to set an FM phase-out date have all failed: Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony had originally targeted a switch to DAB+ by the end of 2025 by law, but both state governments scrapped these regulations after protests from private broadcasters. The Bavarian state media authority wanted to let the FM licenses expire by 2032 at the latest, but the private broadcasters were also up in arms against this. In its coalition agreement, the new coalition of the CSU and the Free Voters spoke out in favor of extending the FM licenses until 2035.

But why is it now apparently working in Schleswig-Holstein? In its coalition agreement, the black-green state government had pledged to make Schleswig-Holstein a "digital radio pioneer region". The fact that there are only a few advertising-financed stations in Schleswig-Holstein compared to other federal states may have been helpful in the talks with the broadcasters. In addition, only a few broadcasters from neighboring federal states broadcast to Schleswig-Holstein. For the companies, the risk of their listeners switching to the competition after the end of FM is therefore relatively low.

However, according to the Audio Trends study, only a good third of households in Schleswig-Holstein currently have access to DAB+. This means that many people in the federal state will have to buy a digital radio in the next few years if they want to continue listening via antenna. Nevertheless, the proportion of households with DAB+ has recently risen rapidly there; in 2022 it was only 27 percent.

Finance Commission slowly losing patience

It is now quite conceivable that at least the public broadcasters nationwide will be phasing out FM broadcasting by 2032. This is because the Commission for the Determination of the Financial Requirements of Broadcasters (KEF) no longer wants to recognize the costs of FM broadcasting from 2033. Originally, it wanted to stop doing so from 2029, but postponed the target date "due to media policy decisions that have still not been made regarding a coordinated exit from FM broadcasting", as stated in the current KEF report.

The KEF has long been critical of FM and DAB+ simulcasting due to the high costs involved. According to the report, the costs for FM broadcasting by public broadcasters (ARD and Deutschlandradio) from 2025 to 2028 will amount to 221 million euros. According to ARD estimates, the costs for pure DAB+ broadcasting are 80 percent of FM costs.

Austria lags behind in digital radio

DAB+ was only launched in Austria in 2018, which is why an FM phase-out is not yet an issue there. "Compared to a history of well over 20 years of DAB/DAB+ in Germany, it is probably understandable that thoughts about switching off FM are not yet relevant for us," said a spokesperson for the regulatory authority KommAustria at the request of c't.

(cwo)