Notice no. 2012-14 of November 13, 2012 on a draft order amending the order of January 3, 2008 on radio broadcast in digital mode.
Seized by the Minister of Culture and Communication on October 11, 2012, pursuant to Article 12 of Law No. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on the freedom of communication, of a draft decree relating to radio broadcast in digital mode by terrestrial hertzian or satellite means in L-band or S-band, setting the characteristics of the signals transmitted, the French Superior Audiovisual Council, meeting in plenary session on November 13, 2012, issued the following opinion.
The Conseil gives a favorable opinion on the draft submitted to it. It welcomes the fact that, as it had demanded of the Government on December 19, 2011, the draft decree authorizes the use of an additional standard, DAB+, for digital terrestrial radio broadcasting in Band III and L Band. Given its use in several European countries, this standard is likely to facilitate the development of digital radio. The Commission also notes that the DVB-H standard has been abandoned for UHF broadcasting of personal mobile TV.
Nevertheless, the Commission makes the following observations:
1° The company selected by the Commission on October 23, 2012, as part of the invitation to tender launched on November 3, 2011, to select a distributor of L-band digital radio services, plans, as it indicated in its response to the public consultation, the summary of which was published on October 11, 2012, to show its services by hybrid satellite and terrestrial means and using the SDR standard. The Board strongly notices the addition of the SDR standard in S-band in order to offer the same flexibility in terms of choice of diffusion norms as in L-band for the satellite part.
2° As the DAB+ and SDR norms do not make provision for the use of the MPEG-4 BIFS standard for interactive associated data services, the Council notices that the specific mention of this standard for bands III and L should be removed.
This notice will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.
Paris, November 13, 2012.
For the French Superior Audiovisual Council :
Le président,
M. Boyon