Web radio has been made possible by the process of encoding analogue sound into digital code. It is catching up fast with another form of digital radio which has had a much slower development phase, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), but which is planned to replace the traditional analogue radio signal over the coming 10 20 years. We will return to the contrasts and possible relationships between web radio and DAB later on in the book, but the two are very different systems, both in their transmission and their reception by the listener. But, to complete this discussion of the vertical/horizontal models of radio for a moment, we should simply note here that inherent in DAB technology is an increase in the vertical character of broadcasting. This is because it is transmitted in multiplexes bundles of seven or so stations, which are then unscrambled by the receiver. So each individual station needs to bid to the operator of the multiplex for transmission space. It is the operator of the multiplex that wins the licence from the regulator to transmit. The significance of this is that small stations have to align themselves with the interests of the corporations who run the multiplexes. In other words, they are yet one stage further removed from the horizontal roots of radio technology. A real strength of web radio, for the small station, is that it is much closer to that horizontal model.