Bringing together all the services of the free national DTT channels in a common application is the recommendation made Thursday by Arcom to guarantee their good exposure on connected televisions compared to major platforms like YouTube and Netflix.
The rise of
“smart TVs”
, present in 88% of homes equipped with a television at the end of 2022, according to Arcom, raises the question of the visibility of French media compared to foreign
“streaming”
players .
The latter are in a good position on the home pages of interfaces managed by players as diverse as internet service providers, television manufacturers or web giants like Google and Amazon.
“This is a somewhat new context both for the viewer, who is finding it more and more difficult to find their way in this landscape”
and
“for traditional media publishers who see their offering drowned out
,” the president underlined. of Arcom, Roch-Olivier Maistre, during a press briefing.
However, a 2018 European directive
“allows Member States of the Union to impose measures which allow appropriate visibility”
of media considered to be of general interest, he recalled, evoking issues of pluralism, cultural diversity and national sovereignty.
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Access in just a few clicks
It is in this context that the French media regulator made public on Thursday two draft deliberations concerning these
“services of general interest”
(excluding local radios and channels, which will be dealt with later).
The first defines their scope, including public service media such as France Télévisions, but also all the free private channels of the national TNT and their platforms.
The second details the conditions necessary for
“appropriate visibility”
of these services, which must for example appear in
“the same location as the best exposed services”
, the operators responsible for respecting them having to report to Arcom and
“ before February 15 of each year"
, measures implemented the previous year.
To encourage their proper application, Arcom recommends the deployment of an application common to all channel publishers, responsible for its implementation, to allow access to their offers in a few clicks.
A technical project which will take time, the deliberations having to be transmitted to the European Commission, which will examine them within three months.
Arcom intends to favor a collaborative approach with all the stakeholders concerned, insisted Roch-Olivier Maistre, without specifying the sanctions incurred in the event of a breach.