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Music download service set for UK digital radio

Posted on: Monday, 26 June 2006, 06:12 CDT

By Jeffrey Goldfarb

LONDON (Reuters) - Consumers will soon be able to buy songs as they listen to them on digital radio using a download service announced on Monday by UBC Media.

The London-based radio programming producer said it will begin testing the technology on Chrysalis Group's Heart station. It added that digital-radio enabled mobile phones will be available later this year.

UBC, which is the largest independent producer of radio programming for public broadcaster the BBC, said it expects the digital music download (DMD) service to generate 93 million pounds ($170.1 million) of turnover within six years, with a profit of nearly 10 million.

Consumers would pre-pay for songs using a similar credit plan as is commonly used for mobile phone calls. Each song is expected to cost about 1.25 pounds, 60 percent more than the 79 pence for tracks bought from Apple Computer's iTunes service.

Songs purchased impulsively from UBC's service also will be designed for simultaneously downloading to a Web-based music library that is compatible with other music players.

The DMD trials will start in Birmingham at the end of July, UBC said.

U.S. subscription satellite radio services from XM and Sirius enable consumers to record songs they've heard for later playback, but to buy them requires additional steps and synchronizing with a computer.

UBC separately announced on Monday that its revenue for the year ended March 31 grew by 22 percent to 19.4 million pounds, and swung to a 349,000-pound operating profit from a loss a year earlier.

Source: REUTERS

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