Avis du 15 juillet 2009 relatif au projet d'ordonnance portant extension et adaptation des dispositions de la TNT en Outre-mer (Opinion of July 15, 2009 on the draft ordinance extending and adapting DTT schemes in overseas France)
Avis n° 2009-10 du 15 juillet 2009 relatif au projet d'ordonnance portant extension et adaptation des dispositions relatives à la télévision numérique terrestre dans les départements d'overseas France, à Mayotte, à Saint-Barthélemy, à Saint-Martin, à Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, dans les îles Wallis et Futuna, en Polynésie française et en Nouvelle-Calédonie.
Seized for opinion by the Government, pursuant to article 9 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, of the draft ordinance extending and adapting provisions relating to digital terrestrial television in overseas France, Mayotte, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, the Wallis and Futuna Islands, French Polynesia and New Caledonia, the French Superior Audiovisual Council, having deliberated at its plenary meeting on July 15, 2009, issues the following opinion.
The Council welcomes the fact that the draft ordinance largely incorporates the notices and proposals contained in the "Report on the development of digital television in overseas France", drawn up at the Government's request and on behalf of the French Superior Audiovisual Council by Alain Méar, a member of the Council's College. The report, submitted to the French government on July 3, 2008, recommends the adaptations required for the rapid, gradual and significant introduction of digital terrestrial television in overseas France, in order to avoid the emergence of a digital divide between in mainland France and overseas France. This enriched, free-to-air television supply must take into account the specific features of each of the overseas collectivities and the development of their advertising markets. The council has recommended a three-wave rollout of DTT: a first public multiplex including a local TV service selected outside the call for tenders; a second multiplex including other existing local channels, new local projects and one or two public high-definition channels; after the end of analog diffusion, a third multiplex made up of private national free-to-air channels.
I. - The draft ordinance incorporates most of the proposals in the report by Council member Alain Méar.
The Council notes that the draft ordinance takes account of the schemes that will enable rapid implementation of the first multiplex resulting from Tempo's frequency go paperless. In this respect, it recommends the choice of a mixed supply consisting of ten channels: Télé Pays, France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, France Ô, Arte, France 24, La Chaîne parlementaire (LCP-AN/Public Sénat) as well as a local private channel to be created or existing benefiting from a right of takeover. However, when resources are insufficient, the latter will be selected and authorized by the Board, without a summons to tender, on the basis of objective criteria (analog broadcasting method zone, previous authorization, program likely to meet the expectations of the widest possible audience).
Under the provisions of article 1 of the draft ordinance, the Board will be able to launch calls for tender for local terrestrial television services in digital mode in overseas France, to be included in the second multiplex and to complement other existing local channels that have exercised their rights holder and, depending on available hosting capacity, one or two public high-definition channels.
Lastly, the above-mentioned provisions will make it possible to launch calls for bidders for the third multiplex, designed to accommodate free-to-air national private DTT channels in mainland France, which could be set up after the end of analog diffusion. These calls for tenders are necessary because, under article 30-1 of the law of September 30, 1986, the authorizations granted to private channels in mainland France are valid only for mainland France.
Article 3 of the draft ordinance guarantees the existence ofan extended digital supply on other media: any distributor of services on a network not using terrestrial hertzian frequencies summonsed by the French Superior Audiovisual Council makes available free of charge to its subscribers the services that are shown by terrestrial hertzian means in the community.
The Board is pleased to note that article 6 of the draft ordinance on the conditions for switching off analog broadcasting takes account of the economic situation in overseas France and the cost of simulcasting, by allowing the Board to modulate the time between the announcement of the date of switching off analog broadcasting of local services and their actual switch-off: this minimum period will be three months, instead of nine months in mainland France. However, given the timetable for the launch of DTT in overseas France, it should be noted that the period of simultaneous analog and digital diffusion will be short, since the law sets November 30, 2011 as the date for the end of analog diffusion in all French territories.
The Board is also pleased to have heard that eligibility criteria have been set for the assistance fund for low-income households, designed to help ensure the continuity of free reception of these services after the end of analog diffusion. A decree by the Conseil d'Etat may set specific eligibility criteria tailored to the economic and social situation in the French overseas territories.
Finally, II bis of article 8 of the draft ordinance takes up the proposal in Mr Méar's report to introduce a specific label for terminals "Ready for digital terrestrial television in overseas France", to ward off the risk of any "deception on the merchandise".
II. - The council's proposals.
Certain points raise questions, reservations or proposals from the Board.
Such is the case with article 2 of the draft ordinance, which calls for the designation of a multiplex operator, responsible for carrying out the technical operations necessary for the transmission and diffusion to the public of the various program publishers, to whom the Council summons the corresponding radioelectric resource.
Aware of the important role that France Télévisions will be called upon to play overseas France, particularly in terms of technical operations, the Board recommended that France Télévisions' overseas France division, whose experience and know-how in signal transport in particular are indisputable, should become the operator of the first multiplex. The aim of this proposal was to ensure that the overseas France digital project could benefit from France Télévisions' existing structures and proven know-how in signal assembly and transport to overseas France, in order to ensure rapid deployment of digital television and good use of authorities' money.
If the operator of the first multiplex is designated in the same way as in mainland France, it will be necessary to ensure that this operator is able to use the France Télévisions satellite network. Otherwise, given the scarcity of satellite resources needed to transport in mainland France channels to overseas France, this situation could lead to significant additional costs and, in any case, a delay in the launch of DTT. The Council believes it is essential that a suitable solution be found quickly to resolve this difficulty.
Article 4 of the draft order requires the council to convene, within three months of at least one local service editor in overseas France exercising its right to take over, all the public and private players concerned, and to carry out an adversarial consultation with a view to planning a sufficient number of channels to ensure digital terrestrial coverage of living areas and promote the diversity of local service editors.
The Board questions the relevance of such a consultation, given that it has already been carried out in almost all the French overseas territories through the Etats Généraux de la Télévision Numérique, chaired and led by Mr. Alain Méar. The Etats généraux brought together all the public and private players concerned, who were browsed, in a contradictory manner, on their audiovisual needs, intentions and projects. Furthermore, the consultation envisaged in article 4 of the draft ordinance will not have a significant impact on the planning model for the first two multiplexes, which will have to take place beforehand in order not to delay the rollout of the digital project, in particular when the first multiplex arrives before the end of 2010. The Board therefore proposes to replace the in mainland meeting with a written public consultation procedure, designed where appropriate to supplement and update the information gathered during the Estates General in the French overseas territories.
Lastly, the Council summons the Government's attention to three elements essential to the successful deployment of DTT overseas France, which do not fall within the scope of the draft ordinance.
Firstly, the Decree of December 24, 2001 on digital terrestrial television, which sets out the characteristics of transmitted signals and was issued in application of article 12 of the law, will need to be supplemented to enable overseas France to use the MPEG-4 standard for free-to-air services.
Secondly, France Télévisions' specifications must explicitly make provision for the discontinuation of Tempo as soon as possible. Once these frequencies have been gone paperless, they will be used to show the first multiplex.
Thirdly, the Board would like to see the coverage objectives of public channels defined as far upstream as possible in the frequency planning model, in order to identify the most appropriate technical solutions for deploying the first multiplex.
Paris, July 15, 2009.
For the French Superior Audiovisual Council :
Le président,
M. Boyon