Calls for tenders to show local part-time television services in the Paris region: the AMF suspends the tender proceedings and opens a consultation period

On October 12, 2022, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication launched five calls for bidders to show local part-time television services in the Paris region on digital terrestrial television (DTT). The five calls for tenders cover different time slots (1am - 2am, 2am - 6am, 9am - 1pm, 1pm - 10:30pm and 10:30pm - 1am) on the shared DTT channel in the Paris region, accessible at number 31. Four of these five summonses were devised by the Authority based on responses to the public consultation held from April 4 to 20, 2022. On August 31, 2022, the service editor Demain! IDF service requested that its diffusion on DTT be stopped. The Authority decided to grant this request and to supplement the four calls for applications with a fifth, covering the 1 pm - 10:30 pm time slot for which the service is authorized.

In letters dated November 22 and November 23, 2022 respectively, the two current licensees of this shared channel, Pitchoun Médias and the Bocal association, expressed their concern about this time structuring, which in their view does not appear to be the best way to satisfy the public interest and provide a satisfactory economic environment for service editors. In particular, they point out that Demain! IDF ruling, which came after the spring 2022 public consultation and on which they had therefore not had the opportunity to express their views, calls for a re-examination of the time division of the shared channel.

In view of these factors, and of the very specific situation of this channel in the DTT landscape, the Autorité, meeting today, has decided to postpone the date for submission of applications, and to open a consultation on the scheduling of the shared channel in the meantime. All interested parties are invited to submit their views on the most appropriate time structuring for channel 31. Contributions must be sent electronically by December 1, 2022 at the latest, with the subject line "Consultation TNT canal partagé d'Ile-de-France".

On the basis of these elements, the Authority may be led to revise the time division of the shared channel, thus modifying the calls for bids. In this case, the deadline for submitting applications may be further extended.

Applicants who have already submitted an application may modify it up to the new deadline set by the Authority.

The decision to postpone the deadline for submission of applications is final.