The Council of State judges that the requests from C8, NRJ12 and Le Média, who wish to cancel the list of preselected candidates for the allocation of DTT frequencies, are premature. In fact, this list established by Arcom is at this stage only a pre-selection list: it does not constitute an award for the candidates appearing there, nor definitive rejection for the others. Only the final decisions of Arcom which should take place in December will definitively establish the candidates selected for TNT, and these can be contested before the Council of State, including urgently.
In February 2024, the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) launched a call for applications for the renewal of the authorizations of fifteen DTT channels which expire from the end of February 2025. On July 24, Arcom announced by press release that it had “pre-selected as a preparatory measure” fifteen applications. The companies C8, NRJ 12 and Le Média, which do not appear on this list, have asked the Council of State to cancel it because they consider that it has the effect of rejecting their applications.
The Council of State judges today that the requests from C8, NRJ 12 and Le Média are inadmissible because they are premature. The administrative judge cannot be contacted at this stage against this “pre-selection” list which does not constitute either an award for the candidates appearing there, nor rejection of their application for the others. This list of pre-selected candidates, which is an Arcom practice and is not provided for by law, does not constitute the outcome of the DTT frequency allocation procedure. In fact, Arcom can only really reject an application when it has definitively chosen to accept another and this definitive choice can only take place at the end of the negotiation of the agreement which must accompany the authorization. to emit. Arcom can thus still choose, even after the publication of such a list, to end the negotiations initiated with one of the preselected candidates or to begin them with another candidate not appearing there, until the final decision is made. .
Read the decision
Download the press release
What recourse remains for candidates?
Candidates rejected at the end of the final procedure may challenge the authorizations issued as well as the rejections of their own applications before the Council of State, including within the framework of an emergency procedure (summary proceedings).
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