Opinion no. 2015-16 of September 30, 2015 on a draft amendment to the decree of December 24, 2001 on digital terrestrial television setting the characteristics of transmitted signals

On July 13, 2015, the French Superior Audiovisual Council (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel) was asked by the Minister of Culture and Communication to give its opinion on a draft amendment to the Decree of December 24, 2001 on digital terrestrial television, setting the characteristics of signals transmitted, in application of Article 12 of Law No. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication.

As of April 5, 2016, the draft makes provision for the widespread use of the MPEG-4 video coding standard for existing digital terrestrial television (DTT) services, and the use of the DVB-T2 and HEVC diffusion and coding norms for national services to be shown on new multiplexes and for ultra-high definition services. It supplements existing schemes by specifying the audio coding norms used for services shown in high definition, and the norm used for interactive services (HbbTV). In addition, it deletes certain obsolete provisions (specification of video aspect ratio, teletext service coding standard) and updates the identifiers of certain normative documents.

After deliberating on September 30, 2015, the Council issued a favorable opinion on the draft submitted to it.

In particular, it notes that the DVB-T2 and HEVC diffusion and coding norms must be used for ultra-high definition services and for services to be shown on new multiplexes after April 5, 2016. This provision will send out a strong signal to players to develop these even more powerful technologies, with the aim of offering new developments in the DTT platform supply in the medium term, beyond the generalization of the MPEG-4 standard in April 2016.

The Conseil recalls that, in the French overseas territories, DTT broadcasting often summons only one multiplex (summoned ROM 1), which includes up to ten standard-definition TV services with DVB-T and MPEG-4 broadcasting and coding norms. It will therefore be necessary to exercise a certain degree of vigilance with regard to any plans to deploy new multiplexes in overseas France after April 5, 2016, in the particular case where these new multiplexes show TV services with a national vocation (upgrading to high definition of public channels already being broadcast, diffusion of private channels in mainland France...). As DVB-T receivers do not understand DVB-T2 signals, proper reception of new multiplexes authorized for the first time after April 2016, showing national services, would require almost complete renewal of the existing fleet of DTT receivers in the territories concerned. This could raise questions about the relevance of DVB-T2 diffusion, especially in the short term, depending on the availability of affordable DVB-T2 consumer terminals.

The Council would also like to draw the Government's attention to the following observations concerning certain provisions of the project submitted to it, in connection with the effective implementation of the functionalities currently available on DTT:

• for parental control to function properly, the time information transmitted in the program guide should be sufficiently precise;
• for recorders to work properly, and to be truly useful to viewers, the program guide should cover a depth ⁽¹⁾ of one to several days of programs, with sufficient richness ⁽²⁾ and precision ⁽³⁾;
• to ensure the smooth operation of interactive services using the HbbTV standard, the way in which interactive services are signaled and accessed could be the responsibility of the Conseil, in order to harmonize practices between channels and avoid blocking the receiver or some of its functions;
• finally, the use of other interactivity standards, which are required to be "open and non-proprietary", could prove too restrictive. The notion of use under a "reasonable and non-discriminatory license" used by standards bodies might be more appropriate.

Finally, the Conseil recalls, as it has already done on several occasions, notably in its opinion no. 2015-06 of May 6, 2015 on the draft modification of the national frequency band allocation table, that the very near date of April 5, 2016 imposes very strong constraints on DTT players.

In a press release dated September 15, 2015, the French senate's Commission de la culture, de l'éducation et de la communication indicated that "the conclusions of the Inspectorate-General of Finance (IGF) report communicated to the rapporteurs of the two assemblies recognizing the existence of prejudice on the part of technical broadcasting operators, the Government has announced its intention to seek a transactional solution with the companies concerned in the coming weeks, with the cost of these agreements intended to be included in the 2016 Finance Act". The Conseil considers that it is indeed essential that a solution be found as soon as possible with all parties for whom a prejudice has been identified, so that the migration to the MPEG-4 norms scheduled for April 5, 2016, as well as the other operations programmed on this date (notably frequency rearrangements in the Ile-de-France region) can take place under the best possible conditions. In this regard, the Conseil notes that the Commission for the Modernisation of Audiovisuel Diffusion (CMDA) will continue to monitor this issue closely, and that it "will meet on November 4, 2015 to examine the conditions for progress on the MPEG2 shutdown planned for April 5, 2016".

Similarly, the Council will be particularly vigilant regarding the progress of these negotiations between the Government and the technical diffusion operators.

This notice will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.

Paris, September 30, 2015.
For the French Superior Audiovisual Council :
Le président,
O. Schrameck

(1) Depth is the number of hours or days for which a description is available.

(2) Richness characterizes a detailed description, particularly concerning the description of additional streams (accessibility, additional audio streams, etc.).

(3) Precision concerns both program descriptions and diffusion times.