Paris (AFP)
Consolidation of public broadcasting in an umbrella society, regulatory relief, amalgamation between CSA and Hadopi, investment obligations of video platforms: here are the main provisions of the draft law on broadcasting, the biggest reform of the sector since 1986, presented Thursday in the Council of Ministers.
- A Meccano in public broadcasting
This is the most emblematic measure of the reform: the government wants to consolidate the main public broadcasting companies into a joint holding company called "France Médias", bringing separate media for the most part since the break-up of the ORTF in 1975. This will concern France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde (the umbrella group for RFI and France 24) and Ina (National Audiovisual Institute). On the other hand, Arte and TV5Monde, fruits of international partnerships, will not be integrated in this device.
The Minister of Culture Franck Riester assured that this holding would allow the public service to better fulfill its missions, in particular by defining common strategic orientations and developing synergies in areas such as real estate or IT. On the other hand, the subsidiaries will retain their editorial autonomy.
The reform will also devote the change in the method of appointment of public broadcasting leaders, currently appointed by the CSA. They will now be chosen by the boards of directors of the companies concerned, including that of France Médias. But the state will be a minority in these boards of directors and the appointments will have to be validated by several authorities, to preserve the independence of the public service.
- A super-regulator, the Arcom
The text provides for the merger of the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA), after a period of transition, with the High Authority for the dissemination of works and the protection of rights on the Internet (Hadopi), the public agency of fight against piracy, created 10 years ago.
This new super-regulator, which will be called the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom), will have a wide range of new powers, partly inherited from a European directive, notably to regulate platforms in Europe. online, combat hate content on networks and improve the fight against piracy.
Arcom will also have to cooperate more closely with ARCEP, the telecoms policeman, through a common dispute settlement system. And it can temporarily prevent a telecom operator from removing TNT channels from its boxes, to prevent viewers from suffering such fights.
In addition, this super-CSA will have expanded investigative means and may appoint sworn agents to obtain information from platforms or channels that it can not always obtain at present.
- TV advertising and cinema: more flexible rules
The regulation on television advertising will be relaxed, in part via decrees that will allow application from 1 January 2020, in particular to authorize "segmented advertising" (ie spots broadcast according to certain targeted criteria, in particular geographic). As another example, movies will now be eligible for TV commercials, which is currently prohibited, and some films may be interrupted by a third advertising break.
- Reinforced investment in creation
One aspect of the reform aims to develop the funding of TV channels and streaming platforms in the creation of audiovisual works and films, and to rebalance the rules of the game vis-à-vis producers, as well as between traditional broadcasters and new heavyweights like Netflix and Amazon.
The platforms will have to commit to investing a percentage of their turnover in French and European creation, such as TV channels. And sanctions will be created, which may go as far as prohibiting infringing platforms in France.
© 2019 AFP