The French media authority CSA is ready to be “flexible” when it comes to enforcing the conditions of mobile TV licences in the country, especially regarding deadlines. However, “certain rules must remain inviolable,” said a spokesperson in an interview with Le Figaro. ”
Mobile TV has difficulty getting started in France, mainly because of disagreements about the distribution of costs. Do the operators have to invest, or do the broadcasters? For the moment, there seems to be no date set for the launch of what the French call “la télévision mobile personnelle” (TMP).
“To avoid any legal risks, a number of rules must remain unchanged, starting with the fact that the TMP will broadcast 16 channels at its launch no matter what happens,” said Emmanuel Gable of the CSA. Three years from the start, TMP should cover at least 30% of the French population.
However, the authority will more flexible for the next stage, which calls for a 60% reach of the population within six years.
The coverage time-table seems to be one of the main issues due to the high costs of building a DVB-H transmitter network across the country.
