NOW Oxford

Now Digital (Oxford)
Licensed area	Oxfordshire
Frequency	10B (211.648 MHz)
Air date	Yet to Launch (Delayed)
Owner	Arqiva
Website	www.now-digital.com

Now Digital (Oxford), is the name of the DAB multiplex operator for the county of Oxfordshire, serving an area similar to the analogue area served by (the now defunct) Heart Oxfordshire. It is owned by a consortium of Arqiva and ARI Consultancy^[1].

At the time of the licencing, this company was a wholly owned subsidiary of GCap Media PLC until they were bought in 2009 by Global Radio who later sold the DAB licenses to transmitter company Arqiva.

The DAB licence was advertised by Ofcom on May 9, 2007. At the close on August 7, 2007, the regulator had received two applications, one from MuxCo (Oxford), the other from Now Digital, a wholly owned subsidiary (at the time) of GCap Media PLC. On January 22, 2008, it was announced that Now Digital (Oxford) had won the licence.

Three transmitters are confirmed as carrying the platform; Beckley, Boars Hill & Farthinghoe.

As required, the BBC Local service, BBC Oxford, has to be carried on this platform.

Services expected to be on the platform

^[2] (Adjusted to reflect the way UK radio is now)

Service	Service Type	Signal	Bit-Rate	NOTES
BBC Oxford	BBC Local service	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Also on FM - 95.2
Heart Thames Valley	Adult Contemporary	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Also on FM - 102.6 (Oxford) & 97.4 (Banbury).
Oxford's FM 107.9	New Music/Chart & Dance	mono	80 kbit/s	Also on FM - 107.9 in STEREO(Oxford).
XFM	Modern Rock	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Relay of London Service.
My-FM	Soft Adult Alternative	mono	80 kbit/s	Provides by Absolute Radio Int.
TO BE ANNOUNCED	Adult Contemporary	Joint Stereo	128 kbit/s	Not Yet Known.
Traffic Radio	Travel Reports	mono	48 kbit/s	Travel Service.
UCB UK	Religious	mono	64 kbit/s	Currently on Digital One.
Jack FM	Variety Pop & Rock	mono	80 kbit/s	Also on FM - 106-107 in STEREO.

MuxCo

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

Heart Thames Valley, Oxford's FM 107.9, Banbury Sound, Easy Radio, Jack FM, UCB UK, Traffic Radio Castle Digital (Gold service provided by Laser) and two further slots for an Adult Contemporary service and Modern Rock.

Transmitter sites

These are the only confirmed transmitter sites at present:^[3]

Transmitter	KW	AREA
Beckley	?	Depending on signal strength.
Boar's Hill	?	Depending on signal strength.
Farthinghoe	?	Banbury

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ radiotoday.co.uk
3. ^ muxco website 2009