The centrist president of the Senate Culture Committee, Laurent Lafon, presented on Tuesday a bill on audiovisual which provides in particular for the creation of a holding bringing together the flagships of public broadcasting.
“The public authorities are struggling to react to these developments”
The text supported by the senatorial majority should be included in first reading on the agenda of the Senate from the week of June 12, Laurent Lafon told the press. In a context marked by profound changes, with the development of platforms, social networks, or even connected television, the senator intends with this bill to ensure “the audiovisual sovereignty” of France.
“The public authorities are having difficulty reacting to these developments”, considers Laurent Lafon, recalling that the “general framework” of the sector remains the law of 1986, admittedly amended since, but which “imposes rules on French players which are not not imposed on the platforms”.
The creation of a holding company called France Médias
The text is divided into two chapters, one concerning public broadcasting, the second aimed at combating asymmetries in competition. Flagship measure of the text, the first article proposes the creation of a holding company, named France Médias, composed of four subsidiaries, France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde, as well as the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) , which would change from the status of a public establishment to that of a company. 100% owned by the State, this holding company would be set up on January 1, 2024, provided that the senatorial text is also adopted by the National Assembly.
“We are convinced that the direction to follow is a rapprochement of the structures”, affirmed Mr. Lafon, stressing that this proposal “is strongly inspired” by the public audiovisual reform project presented in 2020 by Franck Riester, then minister. of Culture, but who was a collateral victim of the Covid crisis.
To “promote access for all to sporting events”, he proposes in particular to extend to platforms the obligation imposed on pay channels to cede certain rights to free access television services broadcast on DTT.
Among other measures, he also intends to rebalance the sharing of value between broadcasters and producers, to “encourage the channels to invest more in quality productions”.
Regarding the financing of public broadcasting which, after the abolition of the license fee, must still be made permanent beyond 2024, the text effectively excludes the possibility of a subsidy. It sets the principle of a public resource “of a fiscal nature, sustainable, sufficient, predictable” and taking inflation into account. The second part of the text, relating to “the reduction of asymmetries” between the actors, tackles in particular the delicate question of sports rights.