French government to bring media and communications regulation together

The French government has given three of its ministers the task of reforming the country’s media and communications regulatory regime by bringing together media regulator the CSA and telecoms watchdog ARCEP.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has asked culture and communication minister Aurélie Filippetti, digital economy minister Fleur Pellerin and productivity minister Arnaud Montebourg to come up with proposals for a more unified regulatory regime. However, the prime minister’s office said that any talk of an immediate merger between the CSA and ARCEP on the model of the UK’s Ofcom was premature at this stage. The trio are set to report in November.