The public audiovisual communication sector comprises 6 organizations , including 3 national program companies , for which Arcom plays an important role in guaranteeing their independence and ensuring that they carry out their missions properly.
Radios in France
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France's radio supply is highly diverse: FM is an area of private and public radio stations offering a wide variety of programming. More than 1,000 private and public operators broadcast in France and overseas France, over 20% of them associations.
Arcom's regulation is not confined to the FM band, which comprises some 8,000 frequencies.
Arcom is also responsible for
- the development of digital radio in DAB+ ;
- monitoring web-radios;
- supporting the entire radio media in organizational and digital developments.
Private FM radio stations
Almost 4,700 frequencies are available in the FM band, which extends from 87.5 MHz to 108 MHz. Arcom, in liaison with the regional delegations, issues the authorizations allowing private operators to broadcast, representing some 900 radios.
Arcom has defined five categories of radio stations, depending on whether they are local or national, and whether their content is thematic or general. Each category is designated by a letter (from A to E):
- Category A - community radio stations with a local social communications mission. Resources from advertising or sponsorship must represent less than 20% of total sales;
- category B - independent local or regional radio stations that do not show national programmes;
- category C - local or regional radio services showing the program of a national radio station;
- category D - thematic radio stations with a national vocation;
- category E - national general-interest radio services.
Added to this are freeway radios, which form a separate category.
Public FM radio stations
Three companies are responsible for public service radio: Radio France, France Télévisions with theoverseas France 1ère radio services, and France Médias Monde with Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Monte Carlo Diualiya (MCD). As public organizations, their objectives are defined with the French government.
Their geographical coverage areas are complementary, to show French culture from near and far. Radio France covers mainland France, the radio stations of overseas France 1ère serve the overseas territories, and RFI and MCD are responsible for external radio broadcasting.
Radio France's radio services
Radio France comprises :
- 5 stations with national diffusion: France Inter, France Musique, France Culture, Franceinfo and France Bleu (France Bleu is shown in addition to the local programs specific to each of Radio France's decentralized stations).
- Stations that broadcast locally: France Bleu's decentralized stations (currently 44 stations offer a regional or local program), the FIP program (shown from Paris, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nantes, Strasbourg, Arcachon, Marseille, Saint-Nazaire, Rennes and Toulouse) and Mouv', a program for youngsters present in some 30 major cities.
Overseas France 1ère radio services
Outre-mer 1ère is overseas France's audiovisuel network, with a TV channel, radio station and digital supply (websites, mobile sites and applications) in each of the 9 DROM-COMs.
The name of each territory is present in the station names: Guadeloupe la 1ère, Guyane la 1ère, Martinique la 1ère, Mayotte la 1ère, New Caledonia la 1ère, Polynesia la 1ère, Réunion la 1ère, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon la 1ère and Wallis-et-Futuna la 1ère.
The radio services of the Outre-mer 1ère network are characterized by their generalist yet local supply, in tune with the specific local socio-cultural features of the French overseas departments and communities.
The radio services of France Médias Monde, Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD)
The mission of RFI, a subsidiary of France Médias Monde, is to promote the French language and culture abroad, and to show programs aimed at French people living abroad. Its programs must reflect France's political, economic, scientific and cultural life. Numerous programs and chronicles help achieve this objective.
The company serves :
- the African continent
- part of Eastern Europe
- part of North America
- Latin America
- the Caribbean
- part of Southeast Asia
- the Middle East.
Programmes are shown mainly in French, but also in 15 foreign languages(Brazilian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, English, Fulfulde, Hausa, Khmer, Kiswahili, Mandenkan, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese).
RFI also shows a French-language programme in Paris. It is also available on DAB+ in Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg and Toulouse.
Published by France Médias Monde, Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD) is the general-interest Arabic-language radio station that promotes the values of freedom, secularism and universalism in the Maghreb and the Middle East. It broadcasts to 14 countries, including Mauritania, Djibouti and Sudan. It is also available in Ile-de-France and Marseille on DAB+.
Temporary radios
Subject to frequency availability, regional delegations grant temporary radio authorizations to companies, associations or foundations that request them. These authorizations can be granted for events (cultural, sporting, educational, etc.), exceptional events or during busy tourist periods.
The maximum duration of the authorization is 9 months, and cannot be renewed immediately. The demand form must be submitted to the relevant territorial delegation at least three months before the planned start date of the diffusion.
Find out more about setting up and regulating a radio station
Radios shown on other networks
Radio stations can be shown on networks other than terrestrial waves, without requiring authorization from Arcom: cable, broadband, optical fiber, fixed or mobile Internet...
However, if their diffusion does not use frequencies assigned to Arcom, they are required to make themselves known to Arcom, either by signing an agreement with it, or by declaring themselves.
To qualify as a radio, the service made available to the public must consist of a structured program schedule that is heard simultaneously by viewers (and not at the time chosen by the latter).
Steps to be taken
Agreement and declaration
Radio services with an annual budget in excess of 75,000 euros must sign an agreement with Arcom. This agreement sets out programming commitments. By way of derogation, services with an annual budget of less than 75,000 euros are subject only to prior declaration to Arcom. In this case, a declaration receipt is sent to the publisher.
Cases where no prior declaration to Arcom is required
No formalities are required if the radio station is already authorized for FM or DAB+, and the diffusion on other networks is a complete and simultaneous takeover of the authorized service's programs. In this case, the broadcasts can be taken over on the Internet.
In the same way, a radio station that would initially be accessible only on the Internet, and which would therefore have already completed the formalities described above, could then be taken over on a cable or satellite network without having to contact Arcom again. Diffusion on FM or DAB+, on the other hand, requires authorization from the Authority.
Setting up and regulating a radio station