Arcom: public consultation on the scope of services of general interest

Arcom launched, Monday, June 12, a public consultation on the scope of services likely to be qualified as general interest. The regulator wishes, in the event of an extension of the list of services of general interest (SIG), to collect written observations from interested parties by July 13. The consultation relates, on the one hand, to television services and on-demand audiovisual media services (smad) and, on the other hand, to radio services.

This consultation is organized under article 20-7 of the law of 1986, transposing the SMA directive. This allows Arcom to include in the list of SIGs "in a proportionate manner and in view of their contribution to the pluralistic character of currents and thought and opinion and to cultural diversity, other audiovisual communication services » than the only chains belonging to the public audiovisual sector.

It should be noted that article 11 of Laurent Lafon's (UC) bill relating to the reform of public broadcasting and audiovisual sovereignty, examined at first reading in the Senate on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 June, provides that GIS are made up of all the services and programs published by the DTT channels (Satellifacts, June 7). This article also provides that these services and programs must be treated in the same way as the services and programs best exposed on user interfaces.

It should be remembered that the regulator has already put out for public consultation, last March, a draft deliberation relating to appropriate visibility measures for GIS (Satellifacts, March 16).