Ban Upheld; I Cannot Wear This in France

No need to pack the burqa I tried on in Afghanistan for my next France trip. Photo: Marius Arnesen. 

The European Court of Human Rights has today upheld France's ban on wearing the burqa in public, according to France 24.

French "Sabotage" Might Backfire

I have repeatedly written about the digital radio situation in France, even on their FM switch off plan. Everything seemed to finally be moving forward rather fast. DAB+ licenses were to be granted to the radio broadcasters of France, and even the four biggest broadcasters that returned their digital licenses last year would get them back without punishment.

These four broadcasters, Lagardère, Nextradio TV, NRJ and RTL are controlling most of the radio listening in France. They are saying that they don't believe in DAB+ and that they don't see the point of spending money on infrastructire and double distribution. To emphasise their message they use the opportunity so "sabotage" the call for tender - the process of granting the digital licenses. How? They believe that by not accepting their licenses they have been offered back, they send a powerful signal that digital radio will never take off via DAB+, that digital radio broadcasting is not the future. They claim that cabled internet and mobile broadband (3G and 4G/LTE) will solve the future distribution issues. This is first of all not the case, LTE is not the solution. And they do very well know that. This is however fine. If they do not believe or do not want to believe in DAB+, let them stay in the dark.

But if that is the case, that they really don't believe in DAB+, why do they at the same time try to stop the call for tender? They are allegedly objecting at the call of tender process, trying to stop competitors from distributing new radio channels via DAB+, on the basis of technicalities. Because they are so kind that they don't want their competitors to waste money on building a DAB+ network?

Of course not. Because they are yet again trying to stall the process in order to stay without new competitors for another few years. If they could remain as the only stations on FM and without any sompetition on DAB, they'd be lauging all the way to the bank.

Their strategy is a very dangerous one, though. The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) is the French institution that has been given the responsibility of regulating radio, television and other electronic media. CSA is not likely to stop the tender despite protests from the big four.

That means that there will be a national and operational DAB+ network without the big four players early next year. But there are plenty of others that are interested. A whopping 178 thers have applied for spectrum, according to Radio Numerique. These 178 will then be able to build new habits among listeners that suddenly have a much bigger radio selection on offer. They should also hire some of the top names of the big four, making their radio stations the best ones out there. And shortly the big four will see their market shares fall thanks to better recieving conditions, more radio stations and additional services via DAB+. Their way out? Unless they wait too long and lose too much money they can always buy one of the smaller stations with a DAB+ license. But being agressive and a first mover is almost always the way to go. Running after the train may help you on board, but only possibly, and certainly with a sweaty shirt, a little late and looking rather foolishly.  

Finally French Fast Forward on Digital Radio

CC licensed by McPig.

The evolution from analogue radio via FM to digital radio via DMB/DAB+ is picking up speed by the day. Germany launched nationwide radio for the first time since WWII in August via DAB+ while Norway in May decided to switch off FM. The signal effects have been strong, and we see many other countries on five continents follow suit.

And finally, France
But what about France? Merkel and Sarkozy are working very close on the economy, can we see the influence of the close German French cooperation also when it comes to radio?

We can now. The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) is the French institution that has been given the responsibility of regulating radio, television and other electronic media. It has now called for DAB+ to be used as a standard for digital radio in France. A letter formally asking the French government to adopt DAB+ as a new digital radio standard was sent from CSA in December, according to Les Echos, the most influencial business newspaper in France.

France has so far been very undecisive in their approach to digital radio. They first decided to go for DMB Audio, a part of the same standard (Eureka-147), but DMB is originally ment for mobile television, so it was an odd choice. No other country had chosen to go for DMB Audio as the radio standard, most preferred DAB or the more effective DAB+. And of course, there were hardly any DMB Audio receivers on the market, whereas there were hundreds of DAB/DAB+ models.

The Kessler hurdle
Then last year, David Kessler published his "Kessler report," a recommendation to prime minister Francois Fillon on what to do with regards to digitalization of radio. The report contained a number of errors, didn't properly take into consideration the international evolution and seemed to show a lack of understanding of the subject matter. Kessler concluded that the government should wait for two to three years before letting radio go digital. An odd choice given the progress in other big countries such as Germany, Australia, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands. Some speculated that Kessler was influenced strongly by private broadcasters that did not want to see competition in the already full FM band. DAB+ opens up for many more stations, thus increasing competition to those already holding lucrative FM licenses. The report came out in May last year (a week before the Norwegian government decided to switch off FM in 2017), and soon met the fate of other governmental reports of mediocre quality, it was left in a pile to turn yellow.

Note that DAB+ is already being tested in Lyon, with so many broadcasters interested in getting stations on air that more bandwidth (a second mux) will be made available. And radio sales are rumoured to go well in Lyon.

The successful test there may have contributed to CSA taking the matter in their own hands through their letter to the government, opening up for broadcasters to go for DAB+ in addition to DMB Audio. The decision was made in November 2011, but not made public until December and not picked up by me until now.

This is great news for radio in France. There will almost instantly be hundreds if not thousands of new radio models on the market. There will now be made room for more stations, something that usually forces broadcasters into making better radio programmes due to more competition. And digital radio also opens up for additional services, including a combination of broadcasting and the internet. France's move furthermore creates a  bigger market for device manufacturers, something that means better choice and lower prices in all the countries that have decided to go for DMB/DAB+, the de facto standard for digital radio and mobile TV.

The listeners win. They always do in the end, also in France.