MuxCo Somerset Ltd is a joint venture between MuxCo, The Local Radio Company and UKRD and plans to broadcast the following stations: Orchard FM, Star 107.7, Ivel FM, Quaywest, Easy Radio, UCB UK, Traffic Radio and a Podcast Channel.

This is the eighth multiplex that has been awarded to a MuxCo consortium. More information is available on the MuxCo website.

This is the seventh DAB Digital Radio multiplex that a MuxCo company has been awarded and a key licence in the MuxCo network, broadcasting to over 1million people. The Surrey & Sussex joint venture was submitted alongside our partners in the project, UKRD.

The Ofcom press release is here and the MuxCo page on Surrey and Sussex is here.

Traffic Radio is a network of six radio stations that are broadcast to over 30 English DAB Digital Radio multiplexes, streamed online at www.trafficradio.org.uk and through occasional FM and AM RSLs (restricted service licences).

From July 1st the consortium will be responsible for all aspects of the Traffic Radio service from collecting the travel information, getting travel presenters to record it, assembling each of the stations and then distributing it to the various platforms.

Folder is responsible for all of the transmission and distribution elements of the service. This has necessitated us talking to all of the multiplex operators, arranging installation of the multiplexing gear, building a new website and arranging up a hosting and streaming provider. We’re also responsible for organising and managing the RSL programme and providing up-to-date transmission reports about all of the broadcast activity.

All of these different elements mean we’ve identified and worked with a cross-section of external suppliers, all of whom can bring their particular expertise to the project.

The first thing we tend to do is sit down with client and what the station is, who is likely to listen to it and how they’re planning to reach them. It’s a good test to see what sort of focus our client has and allows us to help them better.

The second thing we do is work through their finances. We’ve already modelled countless radio stations in Excel form and we can work through what their requirements are likely to be. This covers everything from office square-footage to presenter wages and allows us to put together a full business plan.

This helps us better identify what their funding requirement is likely to be and what sort of revenue they will likely need.

Funding is also directly related to the platforms that a new radio station can afford to broadcast on. As part of our work we talk about the different costs of carriage on DAB, Satellite or whatever. We also run through what affect the platform has on music licensing and other ancillary costs.

Developing this full business plan for our clients then allows them to go off to their own funders and have a better idea of how their station can then become a reality.

The next stage is the platform negotiation. We already have relationships with most of the platform vendors and can help clients understand what a good deal looks like and what’s expected of them form a contractual basis.

The next stages are then to physically build the radio station and get the systems set up to allow them to operate effectively.

What is multiplex management? Nothing to do with cinemas as it happens.

How much managing does a multiplex need? You win the multiplex licence; job done, surely? Sadly not.

Aside from launching the multiplex - that is getting the transmitters live and the radio stations plugged in, the vast majority of a multiplex owner’s time is taken up with the day to day running.

A common analogy is that managing a multiplex is like being the landlord of a house with many rooms.

Once the house is built and the tenants installed with all the contracts signed people can get on with living in the house and the landlord can go and stick his feet up can’t he?

Actually let’s not rush this step; setting up all those tenancy agreements and direct debits can take a fair amount of time. And every month the rent will be due and if it isn’t received it needs to be chased. Similarly, this is a very basic part of managing a mutiplex – ensuring that the services are billed the correct amounts and that payments are received.

So assuming that is all in order, aside from a little accounts admin each month it’s a piece of cake being a landlord isn’t it?

But then the phone rings. A tenant may have just got married and want to change the name on their lease. Are they allowed to have a dog in the flat? Maybe the neighbours are noisy – can the landlord help draft a letter to them? All sorts of little enquiries are likely.

If the landlord has lots of houses it might be that the phone never stops ringing. He has a duty to his tenants to respond to these queries properly, and to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. Managing multiplexes involves all sorts of daily queries; can the scrolling message be amended? The station might have changed its name after a rebrand. Maybe a listener has reported interference and it might not be clear why this is.

Some changes are bigger. In our house example, a tenant might want to move out; it might be before their lease ends and so there may be some discussions about what happens. In the same way, sometimes a service provider may wish to leave the multiplex and so there will be negotiations about how soon they can leave, and what final payments need to be made. There will also be the removal of the DAB codecs which needs to be booked and paid for; just like you’d book a removal van – except the van is smaller. It will be necessary to find a new tenant and advertising may need to be arranged.

On the flip side of the coin there can be surplus demand to manage. If our fictional landlord runs a house in an up and coming area he may find that there are lots of enquiries about whether he has any rooms to rent. It will be up to him how he responds; does he just keep their details on file or does he see if there are any alternative houses that the enquirers might like instead? Similarly some of our multiplexes attract a great deal of interest and so managing that interest is daily business. It is a very gratifying aspect to be sure, but of course often things aren’t quite as pleasant.

Lots of people have had the misery of the central heating breaking down just when temperatures hit zero. Things do go wrong and often it isn’t during office hours. With a multiplex there are many links in the chain between the radio station and the listener and faults can happen any time of the day or night. Tractors can dig through the cable carrying the station from its site to the multiplex centre. Computers can crash. Fireworks can be shot into transmitters and raze them to the ground. Fortunately these sorts of things are pretty rare but they do happen. Keeping the radio stations in the loop about what has happened and how soon things will be fixed is a very important part of managing multiplexes.

There are many other aspects to managing multiplexes; as an example we keep a close eye on regulation to ensure our digital real estate gets a fair deal in whatever agreements are being drafted; even international discussions can have a serious impact on our “tenant’s” businesses. Communicating these changes is vital, as well as being an advocate for their interests, which by association will be ours.

There’s more about our activities in the Multiplex Management section.

This is one of a number of new local radio multiplex licences planned to develop DAB coverage for services in those parts of the country not already served. This licensing process will lead to a significant expansion in digital radio services throughout the UK.

MuxCo Wales Limited is proposing to provide three local digital sound programme services, in addition to BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru. MuxCo Wales Limited also proposes to provide “a wide selection of podcasts provided by a range of companies”.

Ofcom estimates that this licence could achieve coverage of an area with an adult (aged 15+) population of around 460,000.

MuxCo Ltd’s principle objectives are:

• Delivering efficient local multiplex solutions
• Making local DAB more cost efficient for service providers
• Creating economic benefits to shareholders, enabling them to invest in existing and new services
• Helping develop and deliver data services

The shareholders in MuxCo Ltd are Folder Media (75%) and National Grid Wireless (25%). We brought in NGW to provide technical expertise and transmission resource, in order to be able to devise and present efficient and economical transmission solutions to the local MuxCo companies.

A separate ‘local’ MuxCo company is established for each local DAB multiplex area. MuxCo Ltd takes a strategic investment in the relevant consortium, alongside local partners.

In 2006 Ofcom published a working list for areas where it proposed to advertise a local DAB multiplex, and it began to advertise these licences in December 2006 with a licence serving Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Details of the ‘local’ MuxCo companies and their shareholders can be found at www.muxco.com.

10% of all UK radio listening is currently undertaken through DAB Digital Radio. Isn’t it about time your station was also broadcasting on DAB Digital Radio?

Gregory is a chartered accountant by training, and this manifests in many respects; it extends to his extraordinary attention to detail and clarity of thought, his fondness for spreadsheets and penchant for courdroy.

Matt and Greg generate a lot of the ideas for Folder, and Matt is likely to be the one to develop the idea, or maybe take it in an unexpected direction. He’s also likely to be asked if he’s done something to his hair because it looks different today.

As an established expert in the field of Market Research, Deanna is very good at finding out what people like, or what they don’t like. Or what they might like. It is extremely useful to be able to draw on the expertise of Deanna and her team at Hallet Arendt to ensure that our projects have a reality check.

As well as keeping the multiplexes operating smoothly, Nicky works with Gregory and Matt to get projects up and running, and keeps them running. You probably won’t bump into her at the Radio Festival or in a London bar but she’s always on the end of a phone, and seemingly always has been - only the ringtones have changed over the years.

So that’s us. We hope to get to know you soon. You can find out even more about us and get our contact details in our team section.

Folder Media has just turned a year old, which surprised us all as we still think of ourselves as a new company.

Looking back over the first year though, we’re very pleased with what we’ve accomplished in such a small period of time. I think as with most start-up’s you’re never exactly sure about the scope of what your new business will be. We always knew that MuxCo would form a big part of it, but we’re pleased how our activities have grown into the six areas that you can see on the right hand side.

We also think that those six things set us apart from many other ‘radio consultants’ in the UK with the key difference being that we don’t concentrate on traditional radio programming. There are lots of very good consultants who can help with morning shows or Selector, but we think for stations to be successful in today’s modern world it’s important that groups get the right digital strategy sorted out and build the correct listener marketing tools to ensure they can do well from ‘new’ revenue sources straight away.

We’ve been spending quite a bit of our time on DAB related projects at the moment and not only through our multiplex management responsibilities. We’ve had lots of enquiries from people wanting more information about going onto DAB multiplexes. It’s always easy to be distracted by some changes from the larger groups, but we’re seeing for new operators that DAB’s 10% radio share and growing penetration make it a viable business for new entrants. We think 2008 will be the year of new entrants for DAB.

Many of our client relationships start with a phone call. Whatever you project, give us a call, and we’ll happily talk through some options and how we can help you.