France

[FR] Six more HD channels on DTV

IRIS 2011-10:1/16

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

In a notable response to the reasoned opinion issued on 29 September by the European Commission holding that the arrangements provided for by the 1986 Act granting additional “compensatory” channels to the three historic groups TF1, M6 and Canal+ were contrary to European Union law (see IRIS 2011-9/7), Prime Minister François Fillon announced a number of measures on 11 October. Firstly, a bill is to be tabled within a period of two months with a view to repealing the arrangement for “compensatory” channels. Secondly, in order to enable viewers to benefit from a wider audiovisual offer without having to change their television sets, the technical standard for broadcasting DTV is not to be changed in the immediate future. The Prime Minister did not, however, call into question the decision to apply more modern norms for compression and broadcasting in the future. As advocated in Michel Boyon’s report, this would eventually result in all the DTV channels using the DVB-T2 broadcasting standard. The Prime Minister also encouraged a start to be made straight away on making a natural transition towards these new standards, by making provision for the compatibility of new television sets being commercialised. Following this announcement, the audiovisual regulatory body (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) announced on 18 October 2011 that it was calling for applications from candidates for the broadcasting of six DTV channels in high definition using the DVB-T MPEG 4 standard. Applications must be submitted by 3 January 2012; the successful candidates are to be selected in mid-March 2012, and authorisations issued to the editors before the end of May. “The arrival in the near future of six new channels in high definition on the DTV platform will give a new boost to this type of reception, and will also enrich the offer of programmes for viewers throughout the country,” announced the CSA .