The recent announcement by France’s Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel of a timetable for the deployment of digital radio across France drew both praise and criticism from the Alliance for Digital Radio.
While the organization is pleased that the CSA is moving forward with the implementation of DAB+ in cities across the country, it calls the schedule “overly cautious.”
CSA currently plans to spread the deployment over an eight-year period, beginning in the first quarter of 2016 and continuing throughout 2023. The Alliance fears that this timetable could risk creating a “two-speed radio landscape in France.”
The Alliance backs the idea of accelerating the timetable by launching at least four calls for applications every year, instead of the currently proposed two. The Alliance is proposing to present its strategy for an accelerated timetable at a future plenary session of the CSA in early 2016.
The Alliance for Digital Radio was created in Oct. 2014 by WorldDAB, France’s independent radio and TV union, SIRTI and the national independent radio station union, SNRL to help coordinate activities for a rapid deployment of DAB+ in France.
