January 3

The broadcasting on television of the information and awareness campaign about the youth protection rating system started. The video clip, produced by the CSA for the first time, shows a father and his son watching television as violent images are being broadcast. The following statement is heard : “À la télévision, vos enfants ne voient pas la même chose que vous” (on television, your children don’t see the same things you do).

January 5 and 11

18 channels were pre-selected in French Polynesia upon completion of a call for tenders launched on October 15, 2002, and 13 in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Clermont-Ferrand following a call for tenders launched on July 15, 2003.

January 17

Start of the pre-roll out of digital terrestrial television from the transmitter on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. A life-size digital broadcasting test was performed to prepare the launch of DTT.

January 18

The Conseil issued a recommendation reasserting the legal provisions relating to the use of the French language applicable to the audiovisual media. It insisted that radio and television staff going on the air should not use foreign terms but rather their equivalent in French as they exist in the current usage.
Five local channel projects in large French cities (Tours, Orléans, Le Mans, Angers and Grenoble) were pre-selected by the CSA.
A draft agreement was adopted regarding Martinican satellite channel APTV.

January 19

Giancarlo Innocenzi-Botti the Italian deputy State director for communications was welcomed by the CSA and presented the state of affairs regarding digital terrestrial television in his country.

January 23

As the terms of office of Joseph Daniel, Marie-Laure Denis and Yvon Le Bars had been completed, three new members were appointed to the Conseil’s Board. Michèle Reiser was appointed by the President of the Republic and Sylvie Genevoix was appointed by the Chairman of the Assemblée nationale ; Marie-Laure Denis’ term of office was renewed by the Chairman of the Sénat.
The Board members then reallocated their various fields of responsibility.

January 25

Three new radio stations were licensed in Guadeloupe.

January 26

On the occasion of the New Year, the Conseil welcomed audiovisual industry professionals and journalists at the hôtel des Invalides in Paris.

February 1

Luxemburg channel T. TV registered with the CSA.

February 3

A meeting of the DTT mission co-chaired by Daniel Boudet de Montplaisir and Dominique Baudis was held. The date for the broadcasting start of the free DTT channels was set for March 31, 2005.

February 7

The Chairman of the CSA inaugurated Le Radio (annual meeting of independent wave decision makers) a trade fair held in Paris until February 9.

February 10

Pursuant to the power of penalty recently devolved to it, the CSA sent an official notice to satellite operator Eutelsat requiring it to terminate the broadcasting of Iranian channel Sahar 1 as the channel had not been licensed to broadcast to the European Union. Moreover, some of its recent programs could incite to racial or religious hatred and be deemed negationist.

February 15

A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding satellite channel Mizik Tropical.

March 8

A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding theme channels Astrocenter and Ushuaïa.

March 11

Thirty-five applications were lodged with the Conseil in response to a call for tenders for eight new DTT channels launched on December 14, 2004.

March 15

The Conseil issued an opinion on the draft décret to approve the new cahier des missions et des charges (terms of reference) of France 4, the new DTT public channel.

A call for tenders for local channels was launched in Martinique.

March 22

The Conseil sent a recommendation to the audiovisual media in preparation for the referendum on the draft European constitutional treaty to take place on May 29, 2005.

The Chairman of the CSA wrote to the Prime Minister regarding the need to ensure that all French viewers have access to the new DTT channels. A working group co-chaired by the Directeur du développement des médias and the director general of the CSA was set up a few weeks later to review the possible options.

A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding theme channel M6 Music Hits. La Latina, a Latino-American channel registered with the CSA.

The licenses of seventy-three radio stations of Alsace-Lorraine were renewed without calls for tenders.

March 30

The Conseil decided to not adopt any legal agreement in relation to a proposed channel, Fight TV, which intended to broadcast free fight. The Conseil deemed that the broadcasting of images of degrading violence against people must be banned in France.

France 4, the new public DTT channel received its broadcasting license.

March 31

The free DTT channels started broadcasting their programs at 6 p.m. The Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Minister for Culture and Communication Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, and the Minister delegated for Industry, Patrick Devedjian, and the executives of the main channels were welcomed at the CSA for a reception organized by Chairman Baudis and the other members of the CSA’s Board.

April 1

The first meeting of the consultative expert committee created at the initiative of the Working Group on the Protection of Young Audiences and Programs’ Ethics to better assess the impact of television and radio programs on minors was held. The committee will focus primarily on analyzing programs about intra-family relationships.

April 12

The Conseil set forth the conditions for the production, scheduling and broadcasting on radio and television of the official party political campaign broadcasts for the referendum of May 29, 2005. The purpose of changing their format and their duration was to make them more attractive. The campaign started on May 16 with two broadcast formats, including particularly short one : one minute and fifteen seconds.

April 18 - 21

April 22

Pursuant to the Law of 30 September 1986 as amended, the Conseil launched the public consultation on digital radio. The deadline for the responses was June 30, 2005.

It also renewed without calls for tenders the licenses of seven radio stations in the island of La Réunion and launched a call for tenders for radio stations in New Caledonia.

May 9

The eight new DTT channels were pre-selected, they include four free channels (BFM TV, Gulli, Europe 2 TV and I-Télé) and four pay channels (Canal J, Canal+ Cinéma, Canal+ Sport and Planète).

May 10

Draft legal agreements were adopted regarding teleshopping channels AEV Annonces, AEV Transactions Professionnelles and AEV Immobilier et Habitat.

May 17

The Conseil reviewed the audience ratings for the information and awareness campaign about the youth protection rating system broadcast in January. The Conseil asked the channels to re-broadcast the message in September when school starts.

May 24

Draft legal agreements were adopted regarding the new eight DTT channels.

May 25

Draft legal agreements were adopted regarding Moroccan channel RTM and Tunisian channel TV7.

May 31

A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding Algerian Third Channel.

June 7

The licenses of local channels Clermont 1^ère and TV8 Mont-Blanc were renewed without calls for tenders for five-year periods starting as from July 1, 2005 for the former and August 1, 2005 for the latter.

June 7 and 21

The licenses of nineteen radio stations of the island of La Réunion were renewed without calls for tenders.

June 14

A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding English channel 123 Sat.

June 21

The Conseil issued an opinion on a draft décret relating to local cut-away (décrochage) from national channels and opened the registration procedure for the distributors of the pay DTT channels.
A call for tenders was launched in Île-de-France for the allocation of four part time frequencies.

June 30

The CSA’s 2004 work report was published.

July 6

Patrick de Carolis was elected by the Conseil at the first voting to be Chairman of France Televisions with five votes. Marc Tessier won three votes and Simone Halberstadt-Harari, one vote. The term of office of the new Chairman started as from August 22, 2005.
The licenses of one hundred and forty eight radio stations in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Lyon were renewed without calls for tenders. On the island of La Réunion, the licenses of fifteen operators were renewed and thirteen new radio stations were pre-selected.

July 11

The Conseil issued its opinion on a draft décret relating to the legal provisions to apply to service distributors.
New local channel Canal 8 Le Mans received its license to broadcast and channel TLT was pre-selected following a call for tenders launched in Toulouse in November of 2004. The licenses of Tahiti Nui Télévision and Canal Réunion were renewed for five years, the former one being a French Polynesian channel and the later a channel from the island of La Réunion.
Draft legal agreements were adopted regarding AP-HM, a TV channel in Marseilles, and Quatar channel Al Jazeera Children’s Channel. Spanish channel God TV registered with the CSA.
The licenses of forty-three operators in Bourgogne and Franche-Comté were renewed without calls for tenders and five new radio stations were licensed in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Nancy.

July 11 and 12

The CSA organized a meeting of the Réseau des instances de régulation méditerranéennes (network of Mediterranean regulators) created in 1997. The creation of a dedicated web site for the Network was decided.

July 19

The Conseil issued the broadcasting licenses of the eight new DTT channels. It reorganized the multiplexes in order to better regroup the free channels on one side and the pay channels on the other. It also decided the opening in Spring 2006 of nineteen new DTT broadcasting sites and of a further twenty-four the following Autumn in order to extend DTT coverage to two-thirds of the French population.
A report on the campaign in the audiovisual media for the referendum on May 29, 2005 was published.
Nine new radio stations were licensed in the régions of Picardie and Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and the licenses of thirty-two radio stations in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Rennes, of a further thirty-eight in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Marseille and of five more in French Polynesia were renewed without calls for tenders.
A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding OL TV, the Olympique lyonnais’ TV channel.

July 26

Draft legal agreements were adopted regarding TV channels TPS Foot, TPS Cinéclub and Star Academy saison 5. Several foreign channels registered with the CSA : Baby TV, Samanyolu TV, Abu Dhabi Television, Satellite Channel, Islam Channel Plus, TVR1, TVR2, TVR Cultural, TVR International and Discovery Real Time.

July 27

The Law of 26 July 2005 pour la confiance et la modernisation de l’économie (trust in, and modernization of, the economy) which introduced changes in particular to the Code monétaire et financier (monetary and financial code) was published in the Journal Officiel. Article L621-33 of section 7 of the code which relates to the investment recommendations produced or broadcast in the course of journalistic activities now provides as follows : “As a waiver of articles 42 et seq. of Law 86-1067 of 30 September 1986, as amended, relating to freedom of communication, where the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel becomes aware of a fact likely to constitute a breach for which a company editing radio or television services may be deemed liable, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel shall immediately inform the Autorité des marchés financiers (financial market authority) thereof for investigation purposes”.

September 1

The Conseil adopted the wording for its response to the public consultation launched on July 12 by the European Commission for the review of the Television without Frontiers directive.
It renewed the terms of office of Dominique Wolton and Constantin Costa-Gavras to the Board of Directors of France Télévisions, the former also being a director of France 2, and the latter a director of France 3. It also appointed Jean-Christophe Rufin to the Boards of Directors of France Télévisions and France 5.
Local TV channel TéléGrenoble was granted its broadcasting license.

September 6

The Conseil issued its opinion to the government on the draft décret relating to the procedure for the settlement of disputes.
It opened two public consultations relating to the launch of calls for tenders for radio stations in Corsica and in the Languedoc-Roussillon région.

September 13

The authorization for four simultaneous experiments of mobile television in the Paris region was granted. They were coordinated by the operators TDF, TPS, Canal+, TF1 and VDL.
As the license of Télé Lyon Métropole is due to expire in August 2006, a call for tenders for a local channel in Lyon was launched.
A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding TV channel TPS Ciné Comedy. Italian TV channel Fox Life (seconda versione) was registered with the CSA.

September 20

Six new radio stations received a license to broadcast in Guadeloupe.
A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding TV channel Solaris TV.

September 27

LCM, a local channel which had been pre-selected in Marseilles was granted its broadcasting license. The Conseil launched a call for tenders in Haute-Corse for a local channel in the area of Calvi
and L’Île-Rousse.
A draft legal agreement was adopted regarding TV channel Russia Today TV. TV channels BHT 1, NTV Hayat Sat and BN Sat of Bosnia-Herzegovina registered with the CSA.

October 4

Thirteen new radio stations of Auvergne and Limousin were granted a broadcasting license.

October 11

The Conseil opened a public consultation regarding the broadcasting of DTT local channels in Île-de-France with a view to the possible opening of a call for tenders. The deadline for responses was January 6, 2006.
It granted the multiplex operators their licenses for the second phase of the roll out of DTT. Fifteen new sites started operating in mid-October.
A call for tenders for local TV channels was opened on the island of La Réunion.
Draft legal agreements were adopted regarding Senegal TV channel RTS 1 and Korean TV channel KBS World. TV channels Sci Fi and Play Boy TV registered with the CSA.
Three new radio stations received their licenses in Douai and in Hesdin (Nord-Pas-de-Calais).

October 18

A call for tenders was opened in Rhône-Alpes for the allocation of about thirty frequencies. The licenses of six operators were renewed without calls for tenders in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Poitiers.

October 20

November 3

The Conseil opened a public consultation prior to a call for tenders for radio stations in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Rennes.

November 8

Theme TV channels Nickelodeon, MTV Pulse and MTV Idol registered with the CSA.

November 22

The Chairman of the CSA participated in the meeting organized by the President of the Republic for a better representation of the diversity of the national community in the audiovisual media.
Local channel Télé Toulouse was granted a new broadcasting license for a ten-year period. A call for tenders for one or more local channel(s) was launched in Vendée.
The Conseil opened a consultation regarding the implementation of interoperability for pay DTT channels set-top-boxes.

November 29

The license of local channel TV7 Bordeaux was renewed for a period of five years as from January 1, 2006 without a call for tenders.
Four new radio stations were pre-selected in Île-de-France following a call for tenders launched on July 21, 2005.

December 6

The Conseil drew up its evaluation of cable and satellite channels’ investment in audiovisual production. It dealt with the 2004 financial year as the investment obligations had been included into the legal agreements as from the end of 2003 following the publication of the décret of 4 February 2002 which had become effective as from 1 January 2003.
Five new radio stations in Guyane were granted their licenses. The licenses of seven radios stations in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Poitiers and of twenty one radio stations in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Caen were renewed without calls for tenders.
The Conseil forwarded to the Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP) (electronic communications and mail services regulatory authority) its comments with respect to the wholesale audiovisual broadcasting services market.

December 13

The Conseil set the schedule for the general calls for tenders for radio stations in the geographical jurisdictions of several Comités Techniques Radiophoniques (radio technical committees). Six calls for tenders will be launched in 2006 and seven in 2007. A public consultation was opened in the geographical jurisdiction of the Comité Technique Radiophonique (radio technical committee) of Bordeaux for the launch of calls for tenders in Aquitaine, Charente and Charente-Maritime.
37 new radio stations were pre-selected in Midi-Pyrénées following a call for tenders launched on May 6, 2003. Three new radio stations were licensed in Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais).
TV channel Al Jazeera International registered with the CSA.

December 20

The Conseil paid tribute to Yvon Le Bars, Conseiller from 2001 to 2005, who died the preceding week. He was one of the main architects of the launch of DTT.
A recommendation was adopted regarding the broadcasting on TV of particularly violent fights.
A call for tenders for local channels was launched in Rennes.
Having reviewed the impact of the message of the 2005 information and awareness campaign about the youth rating protection system, the Conseil asked the TV channels to rebroadcast the same message for the 2006 campaign.
Seven TV channels targeting an audience of Turkish descent registered with the CSA.