the technicoeconomic regulation of the sector

ALA eve of the presentation by Orange of its dedicated to cinema pay-per-view offering, it is a pad in the pool just to launch the Chairman of Arcep. In the monthly newsletter of the electronic communications and postal regulation authority, Paul Champsaur split of a three-page text, criticizing the practices of Canal in content, with the telecom operators. But amazingly, it is also to the audiovisual strategy of Orange, who spent agreements with studios Hollywood and bought the rights to broadcast games of football Ligue 1 Championship on Saturday night.

Faithful to the traditional retained technocratic to the regulator, Paul Champsaur cited person explicitly. But all refers to the leader of the pay television in the first part of his remarks: "If a large Assembly of content NRDL: Canal is in a position to grant the exclusivity of the content control to a particular network operator SFR-Neuf Cegetel, Vivendi subsidiary as Canal , is to provide access to all network operators but unbalanced conditions."then either a normal competition between operators, the ability of these to improve the performance of their networks are compromised. "Clearly, the Chairman of Arcep resumed read of Orange, who regrets not having access to the channels produced by Canal , but just to the bouquet. France Telecom subsidiary is in position of simple distributor of bouquet and key so a low margin, which does not finance the heavy investments in fiber optics.

Responsibilities

But Paul Champsaur exonerates not the historical operator of its responsibilities. Indeed, it considers that the same problems arise if a large network operator becomes himself buyer and assembler of content for its exclusive use. " A profile that looks like respect for trait of France Telecom. In fact, for the regulator, Orange can buy content to compete with Canal . But if it is, for the dominant operator, use exclusive content to strengthen its positions in its challengers, Arcep is more agreement. Free and Neuf Cegetel ask always, indeed, to have access to Orange Foot. For Paul Champsaur, "the final objective is to ensure that end customers of each operator can access the bulk of the content and services." "This assumes both the prohibition to large network operators to intervene actively in the sector content and the duty to large content assemblers to provide open and equal to all operators of networks". The message addressed to Orange and Canal is therefore quite clear.

To resolve this issue, the Chairman of Arcep outlines a solution: "each European country should better distinguish between the two functions relating to the audiovisual sector: (...)". responsibilities concerning the whole of the sector related to the objectives of political pluralism and (...) the technico-economic regulation of the sector. "In France, while the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) primarily fills the first mission, the question of who should regulate the economy of the content. Paul Champsaur, this second mission requires "a minimum of European harmonization".

And the President of the French Constable of telecoms therefore calls for the creation "of a European pole in the audiovisual field similar to the European regulators group" in the field of electronic communications The gendarmes of twenty-seven Telecom meet regularly to discuss the economic regulation of the sector. For Paul Champsaur, 27 media regulators would be well advised to do the same.