Ola Brunkert, one of the former drummers for the Swedish pop group ABBA, has been found dead at his home on the Spanish island of Mallorca.Police said that Brunkert was found dead in his garden by a neighbour Sunday night, with cuts to his neck. An autopsy Monday showed his death was an accident, likely caused by falling through plate glass.

A Civil Guard spokesman said Brunkert appeared to have hit his head and cut his neck on a glass door in the dining room. He had wrapped a towel around his neck and appeared to have been going for help when he collapsed in the garden.

Brunkert, 62, first played with members of ABBA on the group’s first single, People Need Love, created in 1972 before the group was known as ABBA — an acronym based on the first letters of the singers’ given names.

ABBA members Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson toured with Brunkert in 1977, 1979 and 1980, after achieving international recognition at the Eurovision song contest and with the hit song S.O.S.

Brunkert was drummer and Rutger Gunnarsson played bass on all of ABBA’s albums, which continue to sell close to three million records a year.

The band split in 1982, but their success continued with the hit musical Mamma Mia and U2’s rendition of their Dancing Queen. I have been a big Abba fan ever since seeing the movie Muriel’s Wedding, sorry to see him go, especially this way.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules giving broadcasters more flexibility in making the switch to digital television from traditional analog signals.  The rules would, among other things, allow some broadcast stations to make a “phased transition” to digital broadcasting.

Stations also will be allowed to reduce or terminate their analog service before the February 17, 2009 deadline for the transition “if doing so is necessary to achieve their transition,” the FCC said Monday.

Congress ordered the switch to digital television to free up public airwaves for other uses, such as for police and fire departments. The switch will also to improved picture and sound for TV viewers.  This change was a long-time coming.