Digital Radio Broadcasting in Israel

Israel has adopted the Aureca 147 standard already in the 1990s.

Bezeq operated experimental radio broadcasts in the DAB (the original standard) through its development laboratory in Tel Aviv between 1996 and 2007, and was therefore one of the pioneers of these broadcasts in the world!.

The broadcasts covered about 85% of the population using only six transmitters (!) and with very good reception quality.

In 2004, a Bezeq team set out to test the reception quality of DAB broadcasts throughout the country along the main roads (at that time).

Although the company had gained extensive experience and knowledge in the field, for various political reasons it was decided that Bezeq would not be able to participate in the tender for the establishment of the distribution infrastructure for digital radio broadcasts. It should be noted that until then, Bezeq was responsible for distributing all terrestrial radio and television broadcasts in Israel.

In August 2004, the government decided to establish digital radio stations and operate digital terrestrial radio broadcasts in order to increase competition in the radio sector.

In March 2005, legislation was enacted in this regard through an amendment to the Second Authority Law.

In June 2008, after many delays, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications published a joint tender for the establishment and operation of a DAB+ digital radio broadcasting system.

The license was offered for 14 years and included a requirement for coverage of 80% of the population, with the possibility of expansion to 90%-98% depending on the region. The establishment period was supposed to be two years.

The winning company was offered a grant of 23 million shekels.

Bezeq was disqualified in advance from participating in the tender.

Immediately after the disqualification decision, Bezeq stopped experimental digital radio broadcasts.

When the first tender box was opened, it became clear that no company had submitted a bid.

Another revised tender that was published later was not accepted and the tender box remained empty.

The failure of the tenders has many reasons:

Those interested in the infrastructure part of the tenders claimed that these were impractical and unprofitable proposals,

most of the regional private radio stations claimed that they did not intend to switch (also) to digital broadcasts because of the costs associated with additional broadcasting (beyond the FM broadcasts they carry out themselves).

The broadcasting radio stations said that they would join the project anyway because they were dependent on broadcasting funds and therefore had no choice in the matter.

In 2021, it was reported that a special committee was established jointly by the Israel Broadcasting Corporation ("Kan") and representatives of relevant government ministries (the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Communications) to examine the issue. However, no significant progress has been known since then.

This buried the digital terrestrial radio project in Israel for many years.

Current situation

Although there are no active digital terrestrial broadcasts, there are a number of radio channels that are broadcast digitally through other platforms:

Idan Plus - Israeal DVB-T2 mux: As part of Idan Plus' digital terrestrial television broadcasts, a number of radio channels are now transmitted in digital encoding, such as the "Kan" stations, Galei Tzahal, and certain regional radio stations. These broadcasts require a digital converter box that supports the relevant audio formats (HE AAC V2 and Dolby Pulse).

Internet: Many radio stations in Israel also broadcast their content via the Internet via streaming.

Mobile apps: Most major radio stations offer mobile apps that allow listening to live broadcasts and additional content.