The Digital Economy Bill has become law, quelling arguments over the FM radio switch-off.
A result of the pre-election legislation "wash-up", the move comes barely a week after a well-balanced House of Lords report questioned the wisdom of moving all national and regional radio broadcasting to DAB.
It echoed many criticisms voiced over the bill, which is likely to consign all FM and AM radios to landfill in five years, except for listening to ultra-local (town-scale) FM stations.
On the plus side, much of the world DAB industry revolves around decoder chips and modules from UK companies, in particular Frontier Silicon.
These firms can expect a bonanza as consumers replace FM radios with DAB receivers.
"The passing of the Digital Economy Bill into law is great news for receiver manufacturers," said Frontier CEO Anthony Sethill, "It provides the industry with the confidence it needs to increase investment in digital radio products across all sectors of the market including home, portable and in-car."
The main reason for switching off FM is not to boost radio sales, but to cut broadcasting costs as many stations are currently simulcasted on FM and DAB.
FM switch-off is not thought to be a cloaked Government money-raising venture as re-licensing VHF spectrum is likely to raise only a tiny fraction of the 3G sell-off.
Digital radio switch-over arguments are unlikely to cease for long as the new law constructs a framework of conditions rather than fixing a date.
It requires DAB coverage and listening-share to reach a certain level before FM switch-off can be initiated, followed by a delay before the transmitters are actually turned off.