In France, until July 17, the world of television is likely to be in full swing. Since Monday, Arcom, the media regulator, has been examining applications for the renewal and allocation of TNT frequencies, digital terrestrial television. All in a debate punctuated by controversies around the Bolloré group channels, C8 and CNews, accused by part of the opposition of political bias in favor of the extreme right.
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There is one question on everyone’s lips. Will C8 and CNews keep their frequency? The answer will be known at the end of July, when Arcom, the audiovisual and digital regulatory authority, has heard all the candidates for the allocation of a DTT frequency and taken the time to deliberate.
But in recent months, pressure has increased on the Bolloré group’s channels. On Tuesday morning, it was the C8 channel that defended its record before Arcom. A record that some summarize as follows: no fewer than 44 decisions and sanctions from Arcom against C8 and CNews in twelve years. The channel where Cyril Hanouna officiates has accumulated 7.5 million euros in fines alone due to controversies provoked by its star presenter.
Last spring, the rapporteur of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into DTT channels, Aurélien Saintoul, a member of parliament for La France Insoumise, wrote in his report that he ” would not understand that the CNews and C8 channels could see their frequency renewed as it stands “.
The Bolloré group’s channels have attracted the wrath of opposition MPs who accuse them of bias in favour of the extreme right. Accusations that have been further reinforced during the two electoral campaigns – European and legislative – that the France. The left-wing MP Sophie Taillé-Polian also denounces ” a quasi-media coup d’état by the Bolloré media “, which according to her have “ threw all their forces into the battle to make the National Rally win “.
Read alsoVincent Bolloré and his media empire, a springboard for the far right in France?
Arcom’s Caution
Is this enough for Arcom to take away their frequencies? At this stage, it is still difficult to say. First, Arcom, which carefully scrutinizes the distribution of political speaking time during election campaigns, has yet to make its findings public.
It has already published the distributions for the first round of the legislative elections and should do so shortly for the second. During the legislative campaign, Arcom particularly pointed out the lack of ” measure and honesty » from Europe 1 radio, another media outlet of the Bolloré group, for a show hosted by Cyril Hanouna, accusing him in particular of denigrating left-wing parties.
In any case, the regulatory body has a whole range of sanctions and reminders before using the atomic weapon: stopping a broadcast or, even more serious, suspending a channel. Such a sanction has never been imposed in France.
Furthermore, Arcom, which is an independent organization, absolutely wants to avoid appearing as a politicized tool or as a censor, especially since a channel like CNews has an increasingly strong audience in France. In June, it even overtook the leader in continuous news BFMTV twice.
Read alsoCNews tops news channels in France in May
However, there is no guarantee that the DTT audiovisual landscape will remain unchanged after July 31. Twenty-four candidates are applying for the fifteen available places and if we want to bring in newcomers, we will have to get rid of the old ones. In the current landscape, Arcom is examining channels that have a confidential audience – we can cite, for example, Paris Première – or those that are in financial difficulty. This leaves room for a possible restructuring that would then have nothing to do with the political opinions of this or that media group.