A government advisory group is criticising the British government’s plans for the digital radio switchover, saying 2015 is too soon for making the switch. The Consumer Expert Group said in a report to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that it is concerned about the inadequacy of research into consumer preferences regarding buying digital receivers. It recommended that the threshold for setting a switchover date should be increased so that the date could only be set once listening to analogue radio drops to 30 per cent rather than the present 50 per cent target.

“Given the slow speed of take-up so far, it is impractical to expect the remaining 50 per cent to convert to digital radio in a two-year lead period,” the report said, adding that the group is concerned that the industry would use marketing to ‘bully’ consumers into adopting digital receivers. The CEG also criticised the Digital Radio UK trade group for its marketing efforts that the CEG said confused listeners.

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