The Belgian media authority CSA has asked its French counterpart to review its draft convention authorising TF1 to carry local advertising windows in Belgium.
The Belgian Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) has taken note of the reply sent to it by its French counterpart, the French CSA, on the local advertising windows on French private broadcaster TF1 in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
This response follows the reasoned request of the Belgian regulator to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement. To be able to carry local advertising windows in Belgium, TF1 must sign a specific agreement with its regulator. This agreement may include obligations comparable to those that would apply to TF1 if this channel were established in Belgium.
The Belgian CSA had sent a series of specific requests to its counterpart to adapt the future convention to the stricter and detailed rules established on the Belgian territory targeted by TF1. The Belgian CSA considers that the response formulated by the French CSA only partially answers the requests addressed to it. It can not therefore conclude, at this stage of the cooperation procedure it initiated, that the Convention, as proposed by the French CSA, constitutes a “mutually satisfactory” agreement to govern the activities of the French operator targeting the Advertising market.
The expectations not met in the response of the French CSA include, among others, the contribution to the local audiovisual production and the agreements of first broadcasting.
The Belgian CSA is sending its French counterpart its analysis of the draft convention for TF1 Belgium in the hope of achieving a text that respects the expectations expressed by the two regulators.