Canal Plus attacks CSA digital-terrestrial demands

French pay-TV operator Canal Plus has filed a complaint with the country’s Council of State about media regulator the CSA’s demand that pay-TV services on the country’s digital-terrestrial platform must commit to transmitting from 1,423 sites by 2011, of which Canal Plus only uses 230 for its analogue service.

The country’s free-to-air channels, TF1, M6 and France Télévisions’ three channels, must broadcast from 1,626 sites, covering 91% of the population of each of France’s departments, according to the CSA.

According to French newspaper La Tribune, this goes further than the law covering the digital-terrrestrial network, which mandates coverage of 95% of the country’s population as a whole. However, French Senator Bruno Retailleau last week successfully put forward an amendment to a law covering the country’s digital divide giving the CSA powers to set minimum coverage at the level of the departments.