Introduction

The Year 2006 demonstrated that Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel is destined to foster and support the developments that our country experiences in audiovisual communication: first, by driving innovation, with the deployment of digital terrestrial television (TNT) and paving the way for digital radio, high-definition television and personal mobile television; and secondly, by playing a new part in our society’s cohesion, in particular by promoting diversity.

Television in the future was one of the Council’s leading concerns. TNT coverage, which makes it possible for television viewers to receive 28 channels, 18 of which are free, has now extended to 65% of the Mainland population. The Council has also prepared the arrival of local channels in digital form, by carrying out a partial overhaul of the multiplex system and launching a call for tenders for the four new frequencies to be allocated in the Paris area.

The Council also facilitated the rise of new broadcasting modes, such as high-definition television or personal mobile television, issuing a number of authorisations for experimental projects.

In radio, Year 2006 saw the work on spectral optimisation come to an end, enabling a total increase of 20% in FM frequencies. The first six open calls for tenders were launched during the year.

All the while continuing this work, the Council made decisive progress in preparing the launch of digital radio. The second public consultation, a follow-up to that of 2005, was launched in October 2006, and a large number of authorisations for experimental projects using the various technologies in existence, were issued. The digital radio frequency planning process is already underway, so that broadcasting can begin as early as 2008.

In a new development, the Parliament, in 2006, officialised the Council’s role in fostering social cohesion, representing diversity and fighting discrimination. Pursuant to the 31 March 2006 Equal Opportunity Act, the Council has handed into the President of the French Republic the first overall review on how diversity, origins and cultures are represented on television and radio.

The preparations for the election of the French President gave rise, as early as 7 November 2006 to the adoption of a recommendation, addressed by the Council to all television and radio stations. The decision, designed to ensure compliance with multi-partisanship rules, included a number of innovative measures, so as to make the official campaign more attractive for the French people.

Lastly, the Council has been very active on the international front, contributing to such processes as the revision of the European Television without Borders Directive, underway since Spring 2003. The Year 2006 also stood out, at the international level, as the year of the Regional Radiocommunication Conference, in Geneva, where coordination agreements were signed, covering over 2 000 frequencies in France.

The agreements ensure, in particular, the future of digital network deployment in the country, whether for television, radio or new services. They demonstrate the importance of the international cooperation in which the Council has been involved for many years now.

As such, the Year 2006 enabled the Council to launch a large number of projects, which formed the foundation for its action in 2007.

To wit, the Council will continue its undertakings to promote the digital revolution in all forms. The year was also the one where the Council was able to fully play its part in society, so that all of France can recognise itself in its television and radio services, and so that our democracy and the values underlying it come to life in our audiovisual media.

Lastly, the Council is an open one – aware of Europe’s evolution and the upheaval in progress and to come in the audiovisual sector, aware also of the importance of its role as a regulator for our society, and confident as it embarks on Year 2007.