Deliberation of September 25, 2024 relating to the list of services qualified as being of general interest, in application of the provisions of article 20-7 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 relating to freedom of communication.
The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication,
Having regard to Directive 2015/1535/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of September 9, 2015, making provision for a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services, and to Notification No. 2024/0092/FR of February 20, 2024 ;
Having regard to Directive 2018/1808/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 14, 2018 amending Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services ("Audiovisual Media Services Directive"), taking into account developments in market realities, in particular Article 7a and Recital 25 ;
Having regard to law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, in particular article 20-7 ;
Having regard to decree no. 2022-1541 of December 7, 2022 implementing article 20-7 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, and setting the threshold for triggering and the deadline for implementing appropriate visibility obligations for services of general interest;
Having regard to the responses to the public consultation on the perimeter of services of general interest prescribed by article 20-7 of the law of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, carried out by the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication between June 12, 2023 and July 13, 2023;
Considering the following:
1. Under the provisions of Article 7a of the aforementioned Directive 2018/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 14, 2018, known as the "Audiovisual Media Services" Directive, "Member States may take measures to ensure appropriate visibility for audiovisual media services of general interest".
Article 20-7 of the French law of September 30, 1986, makes provision for "services of general interest to be understood as services produced by one of the organizations mentioned in Title III of this law (France Télévisions, Radio France, the national program company in charge of France's external audiovisual services, Arte-France, la Chaîne Parlementaire-Assemblée Nationale, la Chaîne Parlementaire-Sénat and l'Institut national de l' audiovisuel) and by the TV5 channel for the exercise of their public service missions" and, secondly, that "After public consultation, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication may include, in a proportionate manner and with regard to their contribution to the plurality of currents of thought and opinion and to cultural diversity, other audiovisual communication services. It shall publish a list of such services".
In application of these schemes, the Autorité conducted a public consultation from June 12 to July 13, 2023, on the scope of services likely to qualify as services of general interest.
2. The contribution of an audiovisual communication service to the pluralistic nature of currents of thought and opinion and to cultural diversity, within the meaning of the aforementioned provisions, may be assessed in particular with regard to the commitments made by its editor concerning, on the one hand, the characteristics of the programming of this service and, on the other hand, the latter's contribution to the financing as well as the diffusion or exhibition of audiovisual and cinematic works.
In assessing these commitments, other criteria may be taken into account, such as the conditions under which the service is made available to the public, in particular when it is accessible free of charge to the entire population.
3. Terrestrial television services are authorized following a procedure of summoning applications, the selection of which takes into account the specific commitments made by the applicants - particularly in terms of plurality, programming and contribution to the diffusion and financing of cinematographic and audiovisual works - which are then included in the agreements concluded with the Authority. They therefore meet the criteria set out in the first paragraph of point 2 above.
Among these services, national free-to-air terrestrial television services are subject to obligations to broadcast and distribute to 100% of the population of mainland France, in accordance with the provisions of article 96-1 of the law of September 30, 1986. In addition, under article 34-2 of the law of September 30, 1986, these services are entitled to be included in commercial distributors' audiovisual supplies. Their diffusion therefore meets the objective of a supply easily accessible to the entire population, as specified in the second paragraph of point 2 above.
It follows from the above that national free-to-air terrestrial television services can be qualified as services of general interest within the meaning of article 20-7 of the law of September 30, 1986.
4. In view of developments in usage and the growing importance of non-linear content, the programs offered by television services are increasingly viewed as part of on-demand audiovisual media services, and are more often than not integrated, on a principal or exclusive basis, into global supplies available within application environments.
Non-linear services that are made available free of charge to users and are intrinsically linked to general-interest television services should therefore be considered as general-interest services. These may be services providing on-demand access to the content of these television services (catch-up TV, in particular), or services providing access to audio and video content that complements and enriches the supply of these television services (for example, videos accessible on demand that are not shown in a linear fashion, but are linked to a television program, such as previous seasons of a series).
Non-linear services of general interest may be published, within an audiovisuel group, by entities other than those publishing linear services.
After deliberation,
Decides :
Art. 1 - Services of general interest within the meaning of the provisions of article 20-7 of the law of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication - include
1 0 services produced by one of the organizations mentioned in title III of the law of September 30
1986 and the TV5 channel to carry out their public service missions;
2 0 national free-to-air television services licensed under article 30-1 of the September 30, 1986 law, as well as on-demand audiovisual media services, made available free of charge to the user, intrinsically linked to these television services and published by their editors, their subsidiaries or the companies controlling them within the meaning of article 41-3 2 0 of the aforementioned September 30, 1986 law, or their subsidiaries.
General-interest service editors shall send the Authority a list of their general-interest linear services and the applications they edit or which are edited by their subsidiaries or by the companies that control them within the meaning of article 41-3, paragraph 2 0 of the aforementioned law of September 30, 1986, or their subsidiaries, and which make their general-interest services, in particular their on-demand services, available on a principal or exclusive basis. They also communicate any changes to this list. After examination by the Authority, the latter publishes a list of all the services of general interest and the applications concerned, which it forwards to the interface operators subject to the law.
Art. 2 - The provisions of the present decision are applicable in New Caledonia, in French Polynesia, in Wallis and Futuna and in the French Southern and Antarctic Territories.
Art. 3 - The present decision will be notified to the service editors mentioned in article I of the present decision and to the user interface operators subject to the obligations of article 20-7 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986. It will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.
Paris, September 25, 2024
For the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication
Chairman
R.-O. MAISTRE
Deliberation relating to the list of services qualified as being of general interest, in application of the provisions of article 20-7 of law n°86-1067 of September 30, 1986 relating to freedom of communication.
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