In "Culture media", Roch-Olivier Maistre, the president of the CSA, gives his opinion on the eagerly awaited reform of the audio-visual, presented last September, and whose bill must be the subject of a debate to the National Assembly early 2020.

INTERVIEW

The opinion is only advisory, but it was still expected. The CSA has examined the audiovisual reform project presented by the Minister of Culture, Franck Riester, in September. A turning point for the French audiovisual landscape, whose operating principles date from the 1986 law on the freedom of audiovisual communication. In Culture media on Europe 1, Roch-Olivier Maistre, president of the Superior council of audio-visual (CSA), delivers his opinion on the bill of the government.

"It was a much-awaited reform"

"The appreciation of the CSA is globally positive," says Roch-Olivier Maistre at the microphone of Europe 1. According to the president of the CSA, this text is "a historic step which goes in the good sense". For the senior official, it was time for France to react to changes in consumption patterns and the arrival of new players such as Netflix. "It was a much-awaited reform," Roch-Olivier Maistre says, "it's a text that adapts our public service to a world of fierce competition," he says. Another positive point for the president of the CSA: the maintenance of an ambition in the production. "We come to reinforce our model of funding for creation," says Roch-Olivier Maistre.

A new regulatory authority: Arcom

For the CSA, this reform is not insignificant since it will also change the face of the institution. The project provides for the merger of the CSA and Hadopi under a new body: the Arcom (regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication). "A modern regulator that follows the entire chain of creation, to the point of piracy", congratulates Roch-Olivier Maistre.

The Arcom will have a greater power, extended, especially on the digital field. "It will not be the regulator of the Internet," warns all the same the president of the CSA, but the Arcom will be able "to regulate the platforms of contents like Netflix or Disney +". However, Roch-Olivier Maistre does not hide that it will be necessary to give the means to this new regulatory authority to act. Indeed, the audiovisual reform provides that content platforms have obligations comparable to traditional channels, in terms of the percentage of European works in their catalog in particular. However, it is always difficult to bend a foreign giant of the Internet to domestic laws. Roch-Olivier Maistre, he prefers to bet on optimism. "I think they will be legalistic and that it is in their interest," said the senior official.