MuxCo Gloucestershire

MuxCo (Gloucestershire)
Licensed area	Gloucestershire
Frequency	10C (213.360 MHz)
Air date	Yet to Launch (Delayed)
Owner	Consortium
Website	www.muxco.com

MuxCo (Gloucestershire) is the name of the DAB multiplex operator for the county of Gloucestershire, serving an area similar to the analogue area ( FM & AM) served by BBC Gloucestershire.

It is a consortium made up of four companies - Town & Country Broadcasting, Murfin Media, UKRD and transmitter company National Grid Wireless all owning 25%.

The DAB licence was advertised by Ofcom on July 19, 2007. At the close on October 24, 2008, the regulator had received two applications, one from MuxCo (Gloucestershire), the other from Now Digital, a wholly owned subsidiary (at the time) of GCap Media PLC. On January 22, 2008, it was announced that MuxCo (Gloucestershire) had won the licence.

This Multiplex is due to merge with MuxCo Hereford & Worcester when it launches in 2011.

The combined multiplex will launch with transmitters at Ridge Hill and Malvern within Hereford & Worcester, and Churchdown Hill within Gloucestershire. As required, the BBC Local service, BBC Gloucestershire, has to be carried on this platform. It, along with BBC Hereford and Worcester, will be heard across the whole multiplex area.

Services expected to be on the platform

^[1] (Adjusted to reflect the way UK radio is now)

Service	Service Type	Signal	Bit-Rate	NOTES
BBC Gloucestershire	BBC Local service	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Also on FM - 95.0 (Stroud), 95.8 (Cirencester) & 104.7 (Main) & AM - 1413 (2 transmitters)
BBC Hereford & Worcester	BBC Local service	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Also on FM - 94.7 (Herefordshire), 104.0 (Worcestershire), 104.4 (Redditch) & 104.6 (Kidderminster) & MW - 738 (Worcestershire) & 1584 (Herefordshire)
Wyvern	Chart Music	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Also on FM - 96.7 (Kidderminster), 97.6 (Herefordshire) & 102.8 (Worcestershire)
Sunshine Radio	Classic Hits	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Also on AM - 954 (Herefordshire) & 1530 (Worcestershire)
Nation Radio	Easy Listening Music	Joint Stereo	112 kbit/s	106.8 MHz (Cardiff area), 107.3 MHz (Swansea area)
Shuffle	Main Service	mono	64kbit/s	To Be Announced.

NOW Digital

Had the awarding of the Gloucestershire licence gone the other way, this is what would've been on offer:

Heart Gloucestershire, Gold Gloucestershire, Chill, XFM, Star 107.5, Jack FM (from 0600 - 0000 only), Sunshine Radio (As Hereford & Monmouth service), UCB UK, Traffic Radio and two further slots for a Dance service and an Easy Listening service.

Transmitter sites

These are the only confirmed transmitter sites at present:^[2]

Transmitter	KW	AREA
Churchdown Hill	?	Depending on signal strength.
Stroud	?	Depending on signal strength.
Blunsdon	?	Signal aimed towards Gloucestershire.
Icomb Hill	?	Cotswolds.

References

1. ^ radiotoday.co.uk
2. ^ muxco website 2009