On Aug. 19 telecom regulators from Germany, Switzerland and Austria got a closer look at DRM+ technology, thanks to a demonstration hosted by the University of Hannover. Broadcast trade group representatives from Austria and Germany were also present at the event, part of Digital Radio Mondiale's ongoing campaign to promote and position the technology as a stand-alone digital migration path for Europe's FM broadcasters.

DRM's continuing push comes at a time when the advancement of DAB multiplex technology in Germany has snagged, at least temporarily, and the high operating costs associated with DAB/DMB multiplex operations remains prohibitive for small community and regional broadcasters in nations where those systems are rolling out. One conclusion reportedly reached by event attendees is that for implementation of DRM+ to take place in central Europe, new spectrum will have to be made available possibly between 174-230MHz (Band III), in order to accommodate digital channels during a transition period. That's because DRM+ is a digital-only system with scalable bandwidths that can be meshed to current VHF broadcast channel plans, but cannot coexist with analog FM on existing analog channels.

DRM plans both a formal presentation and demonstrations of both its narrow-band DRM 30 and wideband DRM+ technology at next week's IBC in Amsterdam.