French Superior Audiovisual Council notice of March 21, 2006 on antenna service on digital cable networks
Since the launch of free-to-air DTT, and in accordance with the provisions of article 34-1 of the French law of September 30, 1986, cable operators offering digital supplies have gradually adapted their commercial "antenna service" offers to include free-to-air DTT channels in areas where the networks have gone paperless.
However, the attention of the French Superior Audiovisual Council has been summoned to the conditions and deadlines for implementing this "extended antenna service", as well as to the rates offered by certain cable operators for adapter rental.
These implementation difficulties are all the more damaging in that connected households often have no other means of accessing free DTT channels, for two main reasons:
- adapters enabling reception of free DTT channels via a cable network are necessarily distinct from adapters enabling reception of the same channels via terrestrial antenna, since cable operators use the DVB-C norm and not the DVB-T norm;
- some cable operators encrypt the signals of free-to-air DTT channels, creating a de facto monopoly for their adapters.
I - REMINDER OF THE LEGAL MANAGER
Under article 34-1 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended by law no. 2004-669 of July 9, 2004, the legislator sought to ensure that households in collective housing, which are no longer connected to a rake antenna but to a cable distribution network, could receive the free-to-air terrestrial channels normally received in their area, without having to contract for a pay-TV supply.
Beyond this specific scheme, the ability of households connected to a cable network to access free-to-air analog or digital channels effectively and under satisfactory financial conditions is likely to be linked to various principles or provisions of the law of September 30, 1986:
- freedom of communication is a constitutional principle, recalled in article 1 of the law of September 30, 1986; In its landmark decision no. 86-217 DC of September 18, 1986, the Conseil constitutionnel clarified this principle, considering "that the free communication of thoughts and opinions, guaranteed by article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, would not be effective if the public to whom the means of audiovisual communication are addressed were not able to have access, both in the public and private sector, to programs which guarantee the expression of different tendencies while respecting the need for honest information; Ultimately, the aim is to ensure that listeners and viewers, who are among the essential beneficiaries of the freedom proclaimed by article 11 of the Declaration of 1789, are able to exercise their freedom of choice, without private interests or public authorities being able to substitute their own decisions for those of others, or to make them the subject of a market"; it follows that all viewers must be able to receive the widest possible television supply, without being penalized by the choice of connection to a network;
- the rapid switch-off of analog terrestrial broadcasting is an imperative, enshrined in France's international commitments (1) and consistent with the proper use of frequencies, for which the French Superior Audiovisual Council is responsible under article 22 of the 1986 law; In particular, the legislator has made the switch-off conditional on households being equipped for digital reception (2); in this respect too, it is important that households connected to cable networks have effective access to free-to-air DTT channels, which include full and simultaneous digital reception of analog terrestrial channels;
- under the provisions of article 22 of the law of September 30, 1986, the French Superior Audiovisual Council is responsible for ensuring good signal reception, which implies in particular that the signals of free-to-air terrestrial channels are effectively shown in their area of diffusion and are not subject to encryption that would not be justified by compelling reasons.
II - FRENCH SUPERIOR AUDIOVISUAL COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS
It is clear from all the above-mentioned texts that the reception of free-to-air DTT channels by connected households must be guaranteed under the best possible conditions, which means in particular that these households must not be forced to sign an adapter rental contract with cable operators.
Consequently, the French Superior Audiovisual Council, on the basis of articles 1, 22 and 34-1 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, demands that all cable operators comply with the following recommendations within a maximum period of three months from publication of the present recommendation.
1. Commercial terms offered to building managers
Article 34-1 of the law of September 30, 1986, introduced by law no. 2004-669 of July 9, 2004, makes provision for the commercial supply of antenna services "to cover only the costs of installation, maintenance and replacement of the network".
Before the 2004 law came into force, cable operators were already offering building managers an antenna service, in analog or digital mode depending on the network, which was limited to free-to-air analog terrestrial channels. The addition of free-to-air DTT channels can only represent a marginal cost.
Consequently, in the event that the tariff proposed for the antenna service including free-to-air DTT channels is higher than that previously charged for the antenna service without these channels, cable operators should provide the French Superior Audiovisual Council, at its demand, with the elements justifying this increase in the light of the aforementioned provisions of article 34-1 of the 1986 law.
2. The adapter issue
Cable operators will have to opt for one of three solutions:
- either take over the free-to-air terrestrial signals of these channels as they stand, which would mean that viewers would not have to worry about the type of network to which they are connected (rake antenna or cable network) to receive the free DTT channels; until analog switch-off, however, such a solution would oblige some cable operators either to carry the same service three times (in analog SECAM, DVB-T and digital DVB-C), or to replace their set-top box fleet;
- or distribute free-to-air DTT channels in unencrypted DVB-C, and adopt a signaling profile for these signals that complements the document establishing"services and signaling profile for digital terrestrial television broadcasting" drawn up by the technical commission of digital television experts meeting under the aegis of the French Superior Audiovisual Council, which would enable DVB-C adapters or bi-standard DVB-C and DVB-T adapters to be marketed at a price that should be equivalent to that of DTT adapters;
- or offer to provide the adapter to the households concerned, or to their building managers, on payment of a deposit, or for a purchase price corresponding solely to the cost of acquisition and installation.
Paris, March 21, 2006
For the French Superior Audiovisual Council,
The Chairman
Dominique BAUDIS
(1) Within the framework of the European Commission's Regional Radiocommunications and Communication Conference of May 24, 2005, proposing the beginning of 2012 as the date for the complete switch-off of analogue broadcasting in all European Community member states.
(2) Cf. article 127 of law no. 2004-669 of July 9, 2004.