Thirty per cent of all televisions sold in France this year can be connected to the internet and the figure will grow to 100% by 2015. There is a need to look into new regulatory issues, according to a new report on connected TV published by the ministries of culture, industry and digital.
The report notes that the technology combines very regulated audiovisual content and unregulated internet content, raising new regulatory questions.
For example, how can young users’ protection be assured when content sources become nearly infinite? How can audiovisual creation financing be guaranteed when more and more professional media content is sold by websites located outside France?
To address these questions, the ministry put together a commission consisting of Eric Besson, Frederic Mitterrand, Takis Candilis, Philippe Levrier, Jeremiah Manigne (SFR), Martin Rogard (Dailymotion) and Marc Tessier (former head of France Television and current owner of Video Futur), which started to work last June.
The 13 propositions of the report is based on over 60 meetings with representatives from the whole sector: writers, producers, publishers, distributors (including telecom operators), manufacturers, professional associations, regulators, consumers and the intenet user communities.
The report promotes the use of open standards for maximum interoperability and to support as a priority content best adapted for online consumption, such as short format content.
You can download the complete report from here (NOTE – the report is available in French only)