Emap is attempting to accelerate the pick-up of digital radio by
pledging to provide digital sets for £49 - rather than the current
price of several hundred pounds.
The move depends on the media group's bid for the new local Leicester
licence being accepted.
Emap said it will spend £250,000 subsidising manufacture for the
area's audience if it is successful.
The price of digital radios is widely seen as a major sticking point in
the development of services, since households often have several
portables.
Shaun Gregory, Emap Performance director of development and Emap Digital
Radio MD, said: 'We are keen to expand out of our northern heartland and
make digital radio happen. Emap is prepared to fund initiatives to grow
digital radio and see it as the multiplex operator's responsibility to
find new ways to ensure take-up of what is the next step.'
Emap has seven wholly-owned digital multiplexes and three joint
ventures.
