Editing Digital Audio Broadcasting (section)

====Transmission costs====
DAB transmitters are inevitably more expensive than their FM counterparts. DAB uses higher frequencies than FM and therefore there may be a need to compensate with more transmitters to achieve the same coverage as a single FM transmitter. DAB is commonly transmitted by a different company from the broadcaster who then sells the capacity to a number of radio stations. This shared cost can work out cheaper than operating an individual FM transmitter.

This efficiency originates from the ability a DAB network has in broadcasting more channels per transmitter/network. One network can broadcast 6–10 channels (with MP2 audio codec) or 10–18 channels (with HE AAC codec). Hence, it is thought that the replacement of FM-radios and FM-transmitters with new DAB-radios and DAB-transmitters will not cost any more compared with new FM facilities. It is also argued that the power consumption will be lower for stations transmitted on a single DAB multiplex compared with individual analog transmitters.<ref>{{cite web |last=Garfors |first=Gunnar |title=DAB 20 Times Greener Than FM |url=http://www.garfors.com/2011/01/dab-vs-fm-on-power-consumption.html |access-date=21 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013221809/http://www.garfors.com/2011/01/dab-vs-fm-on-power-consumption.html |archive-date=13 October 2016}}</ref>

Once applied, one operator has claimed that DAB transmission is as low as one-nineteenth of the cost of FM transmission.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/0003/italys-south-tyrol-begins-fm-switch-off/340879 |title=Italy's South Tyrol Begins FM Switch off |author=Davide Moro |magazine=Radio World |date=12 December 2017 |quote=For us, DAB+ is 19 times more efficient than FM |access-date=18 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216072017/http://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/0003/italys-south-tyrol-begins-fm-switch-off/340879 |archive-date=16 December 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>