CSA calls for new pay-TV candidates on DTT

French media regulator the CSA is to launch an appeal for an additional one or two pay-TV channels on the country’s digital-terrestrial platform in the wake of the withdrawal of AB Group’s AB1 and Lagardère’s Canal J.

CSA president Michel Boyon has said that the call for candidates will take place in the next few weeks. While the channel formerly occupied by AB1 has been allocated to French overseas channel France O, Orange has already declared an interest in launching a pay-TV service on the terrestrial platform. The French football league, the LFP, has also expressed an interest in launching a service.