Radio stations to be allowed to continue broadcasting via FM and AM for 10 more years

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Radio stations will be allowed to continue broadcasting via analogue for another decade, the government has said, after several FM and AM commercial radio licences were set to expire from early 2022. Nearly 60 per cent of all radio listening is now via digital devices, but analogue stations are still used by millions of listeners on FM and AM radio services every day, according to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. A public consultation on extending analogue commercial radio broadcasting licences, which ran from December 2019 to February 2020, originally proposed either a five-year or eight-year extension. “We will soon be turning our attention to providing similar long-term certainty to support the future growth of digital radio.” The government's consultation came in light of a shift to digital listening across the UK, with current trends suggesting analogue radio could account for only 10 per cent of listening by the end of this decade.