Radio France assured Tuesday that advertising would remain "
limited
" and "
very moderate
" on its antennas, while private radio stations had unanimously protested the day before against a project to remove the ceiling from the public group's advertising revenues.
"
Advertising on Radio France is and will remain triply limited,
" said Radio France in a
press
release.
“
Neither its very limited volume, nor the unique positioning of Radio France's antennas on the advertising market, are likely to drain the advertising resources of commercial radio stations today and tomorrow,
” added the public radio group.
To read also: Radio audiences: France Inter and France Info make sparks
On Monday, the Bureau de la Radio (organization of which RTL, NRJ, RMC and Europe 1 belong), the SIRTI (union of independent radios), as well as Radio Classique and Skyrock, had denounced a "
questioning of the balances of the advertising market radio
", astonished that the new contract of objectives and means (COM) of Radio France, in the course of finalization,"
completely eliminates the annual ceiling of commercial receipts
"of the group,"
thus opening the door to an access quasi -unlimited public service to advertising
”.
Private radio stations fear that by breaking this ceiling, the public service will increase its revenues to their detriment.
And this, even though they are undergoing "
an unprecedented economic crisis
" because of the pandemic.
A fear echoed by the Culture Committee of the Senate, by rendering an unfavorable opinion on the Radio France COM.
For its part, Radio France would like to point out that advertising is and will remain strongly regulated on its airwaves: only 3 out of 7 antennas can broadcast it (France Inter, franceinfo and France Bleu);
the broadcasting slots are "
strictly regulated
", which mathematically limits the potential revenue;
finally "
44% of advertisers are banned from promotional campaigns on public service channels
", including mass distribution.
Read also: Advertising: the media have been weakened, but the audiovisual industry avoids "the disaster scenario"
The group also emphasizes that its place in the advertising market "
is very moderate
" (3% of total turnover in the sector), and assures that it "
always respected the resource cap which was set for it
", while the radio stations private companies have criticized it for systematically exceeding this ceiling, set at 42 million euros per year.
"
Advertising on the public service is therefore very moderate and will remain so
", promises the public group.