Last July, ARCOM renewed 13 DTT frequencies expiring in 2025. Without notice and without further explanation, it excluded C8 and NRJ 12. Since then, ARCOM has never really justified the reasons for her choice, contenting herself with specifying that she had ” notably “ based on “the interest of each project for the public with regard to the priority imperative of pluralism of socio-cultural currents of expression”. A justification that is vague to say the least, giving free rein to interpretation, shortcuts and the wildest speculations.
At the forefront of these is the hypothesis, widely taken up by detractors of C8 or by its defenders, of a sanction against a channel put on notice on numerous occasions and ordered to pay 7.6 million euros in fines. Simple and effective, this hypothesis has convinced commentators and politicians of all stripes. Thus, ARCOM, shamelessly overstepping a founding principle of our law, not the same thing twicewould have engaged in a sort of vendetta against the Canal+ group. Curious reasoning, since its managers paid all of the fines imposed on C8 and it is highly unlikely that the regulator would have shown such generosity with the law in force.
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Second hypothesis, less simple and less effective to propagate, that defended by ARCOM: the C8 and NRJ 12 projects would no longer meet the expectations set by the regulator in terms of “pluralism of socio-cultural currents of expression” or, less, would correspond less than the two new projects carried by Ouest-France TV and Réels TV. A very meager justification, especially since ARCOM ultimately chose not to select more applications than there are frequencies to fill, i.e. the 13 automatically renewed and 2 new files.
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We can now question the levers available to ARCOM to negotiate with the selected actors
However, in order to ensure better representation of the “pluralism of socio-cultural currents of expression”, would it not have been wiser to select more and thus stimulate competition in order to push each candidate still in the race to best express its potential during the second phase of negotiations? We can now question the levers available to ARCOM to negotiate with the selected actors, since the latter are guaranteed to be retained in fine. It is difficult to see clearly in this strategy, the method of which runs counter to all tender procedures.
Beyond these unsatisfactory hypotheses, the question actually arises of the regulator's long-term vision regarding the future of French audiovisual in general and the management of the terrestrial domain in particular. Far from the controversies reduced to “for or against C8”, the ARCOM decision forces us, on the contrary, to take a step back and question the future of TNT, which will be weakened by the disappearance of two of its pioneer channels.
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Through its reinforced coverage and the multiplication of channels, both general and specialized, TNT has in fact established itself since 2005 as the television model which irrigates all territories with a quality offer for an audience which has neither the financial means nor the technical means to use another audiovisual offer. The main channel of access to information and entertainment, available to all French people, of all backgrounds and all ages, DTT carries a notion of universality that it is essential for us to preserve at a time when, Subject to tough national and international competition from streaming platforms, the national audiovisual offering must adapt to new challenges.
The suspension of NRJ 12 and C8 risks causing a loss of overall attractiveness of our audiovisual offering
Therefore, how can it maintain its uniqueness and its audience while attracting new targets, starting with young people, less and less focused on television and more and more on so-called streaming content, if are we automatically excluding two popular and general channels? Should we recall that, for the year 2023, the block of “recent TNT channels” brought together 33.8% of audience shares, with C8 in the lead, while the “historic channels” were in the lead with 55.7 % ?
The suspension of NRJ 12 and C8, representing between them almost a tenth of the audience shares of the “TNT” block, therefore risks causing a loss of overall attractiveness of our audiovisual offering where DTT remains decisive because it is universal . There is no guarantee, in fact, that the candidates for their succession will achieve such scores, nor that the public attracted by these two channels will not naturally switch to other content, made easily accessible by connected televisions.
In these conditions, how can we justify that, without any impact study and on the sole basis of hearings, the decision was made to oust C8 from TNT, where it was the first, with its 20 years of know-how, its 400 jobs, its investments in film production and its widely acclaimed new programs? How can we justify that the regulator, without any clear explanation, frustrates 3 million French people by turning a deaf ear to a broad popular demand which should nevertheless be heard by an institution supposed to act in the interest of the greatest number? How can we justify, above all, the suspension of two channels which bring together part of the core target which is young people, offering them a minimum “usually television”essential to the transmission and therefore to the sustainability of our television model?
What if, ultimately, behind ARCOM's decision, the scope of which has not yet been fully measured, was the regulator's refusal to commit to the sustainability of our audiovisual model and DTT? If this were not the case, he would not have suddenly dismissed the most popular channel and excluded C8, although it is popular with the public, including the youngest.
*Max Brisson is vice-president of the Committee on Culture, Education, Communication and Sports of the Senate
