CSA chief voices support for tax moratorium

The president of French media regulator the CSA has expressed his qualified support for a moratorium on the proposed tax on telecom operators and commercial broadcasters to support public broadcaster France Télévisions until the end of 2011.

Michel Boyon told reporters that a moratorium “would not be stupid” at a time when businesses were being asked to accelerate the deployment of digital-terrestrial TV, and after France Télévisions had suffered less from the partial suspension of advertising on its channels than expected. However, Boyon said that any delay of implementation of the tax would have to be temporary.

Calls for a delay of the implementation of the tax have been growing in recent weeks, with Canal Plus, TF1 and M6 calling for a moratorium.