Public consultation on the use of radioelectric resources allocated to the diffusion of terrestrial television services in mainland France

Female presenter

The licenses for Canal+, Canal+ Cinéma(s), Canal+ Sport and Planète+, pay services on digital terrestrial television (DTT), expire on June 5, 2025 for the first and August 31, 2025 for the other three.

As part of the February 28, 2024 summons to tender for the production of national TV channels to be shown on terrestrial hertzian channels, on a full-time basis and in high definition, the Canal Plus Group submitted applications for these four channels, before revoking its applications on December 5, 2024.

In addition, in a letter dated February 25, 2025, the Canal Plus group demanded that the authorizations for Canal+ Cinéma(s), Canal+ Sport and Planète+ be abrogated with effect from June 6, 2025, the date on which the authorization for the Canal+ service will have expired. On April 16, 2025, Arcom granted this demand.

The radio resources required to show these services on DTT will therefore be available with effect from that date.

In its decision of February 19, 2025, the Conseil d'État ruled on a number of contentious appeals relating to the call for applications, and indicated that it was up to the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication to implement the proceedings provided for in article 31 of the law of September 30, 1986, to carry out a public consultation and an impact study "in order to decide whether the economic situation of the sector is favorable to the launch of a call for applications for the four unallocated authorizations or whether, on the contrary, it would be appropriate to defer it for two years, renewable once, from the expiry of the current authorizations concerned".

It is against this backdrop that the present public consultation is being conducted.

It is also part of a broader reflection on the future of DTT, at both national and European level.

In accordance with the second paragraph of article 21 of the French law of September 30, 1986, the Government is required to submit a report to Parliament on the prospects for the diffusion and distribution of television services in France before December 31, 2025. As part of this process, from February 10 to March 21, 2025, the Direction générale des médias et des industries culturelles held a public consultation.

At European level, the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), a group of experts from the Member States advising the European Commission on radio spectrum management policies, is continuing its work on the use of the 470-694 MHz frequency band up to 2030-2040 and, in accordance with its work program published last year, is due to issue a report in autumn 2025.

The present public consultation takes place in a shorter term than this work.

How to participate in the public consultation

Contributions must be sent electronically to the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication by June 13, 2025 at the latest.