On behalf of the thousands of community media around Europe, the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) and AMARC-Europe (the European regional section of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) have written to the European Commission asking not to be left behind in the Digital revolution.

In a letter written to Neelie Kroes, The European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda they have emphasized that the widely supported that the widely supported and promoted digitalization technology, DAB(+), although the preferred technology in large(r) coverage areas, is in many cases unsuitable for community (local) radio stations. They have therefore asked for preservation of the FM Band for radio broadcasting and support for the introduction of DRM+ standard on FM and eventually even on Band III alongside DAB(+).

They argue that multi standards have never been a major problem in the analogue era and will certainly not have to be a problem in the digital era. CMFE and AMARC Europe have asked the European Commission to have a dialogue with them to include necessary actions in the Digital Agenda to accommodate community (local) media to enter the digital broadcasting era; to enforce the use of open standard, hybrid digital radio receivers; to support and promote the adoption of DRM+ and to monitor the revision of national FM frequency policies among member states.

For more information, please contact Pieter de Wit, President CMFE, president@cmfe.eu. Website:http://www.cmfe.eu