Editing Digital radio (section)

====Germany====
In 2020, DAB+ signals cover more than 90% of Germany. A national multiplex contains three public stations by [[Deutschlandfunk]] and 12 commercial stations. In most areas, additional multiplexes with public broadcasters and regional commercial stations are available.

The first DAB station network was deployed in Bavaria since 17 October 1995 until full coverage in 1999. Other states had funded a station network but the lack of success led them to scrap the funding - the MDR switched off in 1998 already and Brandenburg declared a failure in 2004. Instead Berlin/Brandenburg began to switch to digital radio based on an audio-only DVB-T mode given the success of the DVB-T standard in the region when earlier analogue television was switched off in August 2003 (being the first region to switch in Germany). During that time the DVB-H variant of the DVB family was released for transmission to mobile receivers in 2004. During 2005 most radio stations left the DAB network with only one public service broadcaster ensemble to remain in the now fully state-funded station network. At last the {{ill|lt=KEF|Kommission zur Ermittlung des Finanzbedarfs der Rundfunkanstalten|de|vertical-align=sup}} (''commission to determine the financial needs of broadcasters'') blocked federal funding on 15. July 2009 until economic viability of DAB broadcasting would be proven - and pointing to DVB-T as a viable alternative.

Digital radio deployment was rebooted during 2011 - a joint commission of public and private radio broadcasters decided upon "DAB+" as the new national standard in December 2010. The new station network started as planned on 1. August 2011 with 27 stations with 10&nbsp;kW each giving a coverage of 70% across the nation. A single "Bundesmux" ("fed-mux": short for "federal multiplex") was created on band 5C as a single-frequency network on channel 5C (see [http://digitalradio.de/index.php/de/empfangneu]). With the initial market success of DAB+ the contractors decided on an expansion of the digital radio station network in November 2012.