French Superior Audiovisual Council opinion of March 27, 2012 on the draft decree on the breakdown of the cost of frequency rearrangements.
Avis n° 2012-06 du 27 mars 2012 du Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel sur un projet de décret pris pour l'application de l'article 30-1 de la loi n° 86-1067 du 30 septembre 1986 et relatif à la répartition du coût des réaménagements des fréquences (Opinion n° 2012-06 of March 27, 2012 of the French Superior Audiovisual Council on a draft decree issued for the application of article 30-1 of law n° 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 and relating to the breakdown of the cost of frequency upgrades).
On March 15, 2012, the French Superior Audiovisual Council was asked to give its opinion on a draft decree implementing article 30-1 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 and relating to the breakdown of the cost of frequency upgrades.
After deliberation at its plenary session on March 27, 2012, the Board issued a favorable opinion on this draft decree, which will provide useful clarification of the financing arrangements for operations linked to frequency upgrades on digital terrestrial television (DTT) networks, the first of which will take place in June 2012.
The Conseil notes that the draft decree makes provision for three types of expenditure to be borne by broadcasters:
1° Expenses arising from technical operations relating to installations for the diffusion of audiovisuel communication services by terrestrial hertzian means;
2° Expenditure on informing viewers in advance of frequency rearrangements;
3° Management costs incurred by the Agence nationale des fréquences (ANFr) in connection with frequency reorganization operations, in particular those relating to the collection of complaints from viewers and the advice given to them.
The scheme put in place by the draft decree, which complements that provided for by the decree of May 15, 2007 on the digital support fund, will make it possible, on the model of what was achieved during the switchover to all-digital television, to effectively support viewers in future DTT network upgrades.
However, the Council considers that, in addition to the information provided to viewers in article 2°, the decree should require channels to inform the professionals concerned. Experience with the switchover to all-digital broadcasting has shown that it is essential to inform antenna installers, property managers and landlords of upcoming frequency changes, so that they can anticipate the work involved, particularly in collective installations. The Board therefore proposes to broaden the wording of this paragraph, for example by deleting the words " viewers ". As article 7 makes provision for the Council to approve projected communications expenditure, it will be able to ensure that information for professionals has been provided for.
In addition, article 7 of the draft decree makes provision for " the provisional amounts of the information expenses mentioned in 2° of article 2 borne by each service editor, together with their supporting documents, to be forwarded to the French Superior Audiovisual Council for approval and to the Agence nationale des fréquences".
The Conseil is pleased to be in a position to approve, ex ante, the communication campaign planned by the publishers. However, it would seem more appropriate to entrust ANFr with the task of validating, a posteriori, the costs themselves, on the basis of supporting documents. Indeed, ANFr already has this competence, which it exercises, for example, within the framework of the spectrum reorganization fund. In addition, under the provisions of article 3 of this draft decree, the Agency is responsible for validating the costs of technical operations. The Board therefore proposes to amend article 7 as indicated in the appendix.
This notice will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.
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Mr. Boyon