France

[FR] New CSA deliberation on right to short excerpts of sport competitions

IRIS 2015-1:1/20

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

On 1 October the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory authority - CSA) adopted a new deliberation reorganising the broadcasting of excerpts of sport events. According to Article L. 333-7 of the Sport Code, it is for the CSA to “lay down the conditions for broadcasting short excerpts [of sport competitions] after consulting the French National Olympic Committee and organisers of sport events referred to in Article L. 331-5”. In January 2013, the CSA adopted a deliberation laying down the conditions for broadcasting short excerpts of sport competitions and other events of major public interest (see IRIS 2013-3/16). However, a good number of sport organisations, contesting the deliberation, appealed to the Conseil d’État for its cancellation. The CSA was therefore keen to carry out broad consultations with all the stakeholders in the sector and this led to the adoption of a new deliberation. The deliberation is marked by the CSA's concern for ensuring that a balance is reached between the public interest, respect for the editorial freedom of the television companies and the protection of the value of the rights to make use of sport competitions, while at the same time guaranteeing the mechanisms for the financing of sport activities. The deliberation remains applicable to all television services established in France and to their catch-up TV services. The excerpts broadcast must identify the service which holds the rights: its name must be shown on-screen for at least five seconds. The main change concerns the duration of the broadcasting. While the maximum duration of excerpts broadcast remains one minute and thirty seconds per hour of air time, the deliberation lays down four restrictions, three of which are new. As a result, the maximum duration of broadcasting will be three minutes per each day of a competition and thirty seconds per event for sport competitions categorised as regular. In addition, the short excerpts may not cover an entire sport competition. Lastly, as in the previous deliberation, the duration of excerpts must not exceed 25% of the duration of the competition if this lasts less than six minutes, but may not be less than 15 seconds. The new recommendation also alters the definition of the type of broadcast in which short excerpts may be shown (these now include television newscasts and regular information spots, multidisciplinary sport magazine programmes and general news magazine programmes, in both cases where these are at least weekly). This means that, unlike what was previously the case, sport magazine programmes devoted to a single discipline are no longer entitled to show excerpts. In order to increase the promotion of the less broadcast sports, the CSA has laid down an annual obligation to show 24 types of sport (for men, women, and handicapped people). The new provisions will take effect on 1 January 2015.