CSA highlights pay-DTT problems and opportunities

Following its appeal for candidates to launch new pay-TV services on France’s digital-terrestrial platform, the country’s media regulator, the CSA, has identified the reasons it believes has slowed the development of pay-TV via DTT and the things that might help it make progress in the future.

The CSA noted the difficulties that had been faced by new entrants into the pay-TV market – notably TV Numéric – in the face of strong competition on the DTT platform from Canal Plus. Pay-TV channels Canal J and AB1 had been forced to give up on DTT, it noted, because revenues based on subscription numbers remained small thanks to the failure of their distributors to secure a significant part of the market in the face of competition from Canal Plus.

According to the CSA, the extension of the DTT platform to 90% of the country’s population will give a stronger base for pay-TV providers to target. Canal Plus had demonstrated the existence of an entry-level market for services through the success of the CanalSat Initial offer for €9.90 a month and the Canal Plus Weekend offer for €10 a month, it said. While the initial pay-TV offers had included the most popular cable and satellite thematic channels, the CSA said its appeal for new candidates would reinforce the attractiveness of the platform.

The CSA studied DTT pay-TV in parallel to its consultation on the uses of terrestrial spectrum, launched in June of last year.