But this wouldn’t necessarily be the end of analog FM – the interim report says the legacy band would still be home to small local or community radio broadcasters.

The unresolved issues will sound familiar: automobile manufacturers aren’t including digital radios standard in all new cars; DAB service doesn’t reach the entire country (although it’s now at 90% penetration and will reach 93% by the end of 2008); whether the government might help those who can’t afford a new radio.

Digital radio has a higher penetration in Britain than in the US. The latest research shows 22% of individuals in England own a digital radio (lower in Scotland and Wales), and 34% have listened to digital radio on their televisions (Freeview and Sky). These higher numbers when compared with the US result from a number of factors – including, most likely, more effective marketing, as well as the considerable investment the BBC and other broadcasters have made in developing new content for DAB.

British broadcaster GCap is preparing to stream its music services to the iPod Touch and the iPhone, and offer users the chance to look up the last five songs played, as well as purchase those songs, either through the iTunes Music Store or Amazon.com’s new download service.

Internet radio of most kinds hasn’t been available to iPhone users, but GCap’s engineers have found a way inside. (Future updates from Apple for the iPhone and iPod Touch may include Flash or Adobe Air, which might open the floodgates for radio streaming to these devices. We’ll see.) It’s a little buggy, apparently; the story I linked to says the stream currently cuts out when you click to buy a piece of music (taking you to one of the two stores).

I think it’s interesting to see a major commercial broadcaster dipping the toe into this space because it has a lot of potential – witness the AT&T/Starbucks deal. That’s not about making money from wifi, it’s about making money off all the stuff they think we’re going to do as mobile access explodes. And “explodes” is the right word – iPhone users are driving huge increases in mobile broadband usage in the US and Britain.

The other piece of this that’s fascinating is that it comes on the heels of GCap’s announcement that it’s shutting down it’s DAB services in Britain. They’re not commercially viable, says the company – and this in a country which has had one of the strongest content rollouts for DAB Digital Radio. BBC and others remain committed, however.