Fewer shortwave broadcast stations

Today Southgate News reports on more shortwave broadcasters closing, this time in South Africa. I guess more broadcasters are turning to the internet as it is probably cheaper and more reliable.

I guess this means more shortwave spectrum for amateurs potentially, but the nature of the shortwave broadcast bands is changing. In 20 years a casual tune from 3-30MHz will sound quite different, assuming the manmade QRM is low enough!

It would not entirely surprise me if OFCOM released the entire shortwave spectrum at a limited power level on a non-interference basis.  This could happen within 5 years. Increasingly, people are deserting shortwaves as too unreliable, which suits amateurs perfectly. Maybe they will release spectrum on something like the FCC's Part 15 rules.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/march/bloemendal-shortwave-station-final-transmission.htm#.XJircfZ2u00  .

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_CFR_Part_15   .