CSA’s Key 2009 Figures

The CSA held 53 plenary meetings during which it issued 16 opinions to the Government: 3 to the Conseil de la concurrence (competition authority) and 1 to the Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes (electronic communications and posts regulatory authority); it issued 7 recommendations to editors in preparation for elections; and held 41 public hearings.

Radio

With respect to analogue radio in mainland France (métropole), the Conseil carried out 2 public consultations in preparation for the issuance in 2010 of the last two general calls for tenders under the FM+ plan; it processed 7 partial calls for tenders; it allowed the renewal of 84 licenses without calls for tenders; it renewed the licenses of 95 stations without calls for tenders, licensed 232 temporary radio stations; in outre-mer (French overseas départements and territoires) it licensed 94 stations, renewed the licenses of 4 others and issued 7 temporary licenses; with respect to digital radio, it selected 136 stations in Paris, Marseille and Nice, and opened a public consultation to collect the market players’ expectations and projects; it entered into 1 new legal agreement (convention), and received 18 registrations (déclarations) for radio services broadcasting otherwise than off-air.

Television

As part of its efforts to extend DTT broadcasting, the Conseil authorized broadcasting by 340 new transmitters; it opened 2 public consultations: one relating to the proposed future of digital broadcasting, and possible uses for air-waves formerly used by two DTT pay channels; the other one related to the deployment of new audiovisual services; it authorised 2 off-air video-on-demand experiments; it started the implementation of the provisions of the ordonnance (order) relating to DTT in outre-mer by granting licenses to 8 public channels on a first multiplex.

In mainland France, the Conseil increased the number of local channels authorised to broadcast in digital to 44; it launched 5 series of calls for tenders, and 2 public consultations in preparation for the licensing of new digital local televisions; in outre-mer, it granted a license or renewed the licenses of 8 analogue local channels; it entered into 8 new legal agreements (conventions) and received 32 registrations (déclarations) relating to services broadcast or distributed by networks not using frequencies allocated by the Conseil.

The Conseil issued 73 formal notices (mises en demeure), initiated 6 penalty proceedings, and handed down 2 penalties following various breaches by operators. It also welcomed 43 foreign delegations.

Totalling 3,285,000, the number of visitors to the Conseil’s website, www.csa.fr, increased by 13% compared to 2008. RSS feeds are now the primary means of access to the website: they resulted in 558,000 visits. The monthly average number of emails sent to the Conseil using the website was 388, down from 591 in 2008. A significant decrease was noted in the number of questions relating to digital terrestrial television, probably due, on the whole, to the new format and richer information on DTT.