Opinion of July 15, 2009 on the draft amendment to the national plan for analog broadcasting switch-off and shift to digital technology

Notice no. 2009-9 of July 15, 2009 on the proposed modification of the national plan for analog broadcasting switch-off and shift to digital broadcasting


The French Superior Audiovisual Council (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel) has been asked to give its opinion, in application of article 99 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, on a draft amendment to the national scheme for stopping analog diffusion and shifting to digital.

After deliberation at its plenary meeting on July 15, 2009, it issued a favorable opinion on the project.

The Board welcomes the forthcoming publication of the revised plan, particularly as it will include a complete timetable for the switch-off of analog diffusion and the transition to all-digital television. It suggests that the timetable for 2010 be specified in the light of the switch-off decisions it will adopt before the end of July 2009 for the Poitou-Charentes, Centre, Bourgogne, Franche-Comté and Nord-Pas-de-Calais regions.

With regard to the anticipated timetable for the end of analog Canal + broadcasting, the Board also recommends that the timetable for 2010 be specified on the basis of the shutdown decisions it has adopted:
- shutdown of the Nord - Pas-de-Calais and Picardie regions: April 14, 2010 ;
- Aquitaine and Corsica: May 6, 2010.

In addition, the Council considers it essential that the revised plan continue to include a chapter dedicated to the particular difficulties associated with switching on DTT at certain sites that are essential to the smooth running of the process. Indeed, it seems essential that viewers currently receiving analog services from these transmitters also benefit from a sufficient period of dual broadcasting. Shutting down analog diffusion in certain areas remains the only possible means of enabling the arrival of DTT in these areas.

The Council would therefore like the revised plan to explicitly state that the introduction of DTT in the Aurillac, Besançon, Chambéry, Limoges and Privas areas may entail the specific shutdown of analog diffusion in certain limited areas.

The notice also recommends adding to these areas the main sites of Grenoble and Avignon, where DTT is not yet present, or is only present in a partial manner. It therefore proposes inserting the following dates into the timetable described in section B of chapter IV:

Cf. table above

The Council would like the schedule for 2011, which appears at the end of the draft decree, to be preceded by the following wording: "For 2011, analog diffusion will stop in the following order of regions. The precise switch-off dates will be set by decision of the French Superior Audiovisual Council."

Furthermore, the arrival of DTT is likely to disrupt a large number of analog service areas. It would be preferable to specify that viewers for whom analog reception will be interrupted or disrupted in this way will benefit from specific support for this early switchover to digital. It is also essential that these viewers have access, in a budget-neutral way, to the aid planned to support them in this transition under the same conditions as for the shutdown of an entire region.

Similarly, the digital switchover of a neighboring region on target plan frequencies may cause local disruption to the analog service. It will be useful to provide similar support for viewers in disturbed areas, as will be made provision for in the case of main sites yet to be paperless.

Lastly, some border states have signed bilateral agreements with France concerning the broadcasting of foreign channels in analog mode on French territory, where appropriate from transmitters located on that territory. In anticipation of the forthcoming shutdown of analog diffusion, the Board considers it advisable to start negotiating new agreements, or where appropriate to adapt existing agreements to include the requirements of the analog shutdown.

In conclusion, the Board reiterates that, if the switchover to all-digital broadcasting is to be a success, the target plan must guarantee each of the multiplexes shown coverage at least equal to that which it currently enjoys, particularly in border regions. It would be inconceivable that households currently receiving digital terrestrial television would be deprived of it when analog diffusion ceases. Consequently, the Conseil considers that the identification of additional channels to increase the number of multiplexes available must necessarily take into account this guarantee of continuity of digital terrestrial coverage. It considers that this objective should be integrated into the revision of the national analog switch-off plan.

The present notice will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.

Paris, July 15, 2009.

For the French Superior Audiovisual Council :
Le président,
M. Boyon