21/10/2002 - Government report finds no easy solution to the implementation of terrestrial digital TV in France and suggests a general revision

French terrestrial digital television, TNT, is not scheduled to go into operation before 2004. That is the main conclusion of the report that Michel Boyon, the former president of Radio France, presented last week to the French Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The TNT issue has been the cause of anxiety to the French audiovisual industry for quite some time.
According to the Boyon Report, impediments to the activation and viability of France’s future TNT include the poor economic climate, a fall in advertising revenue and a variety of technical and financial issues. Boyon suggested three solutions: halting the project, creating a new plan from scratch and, Boyon’s recommendation to the government, revising the project so as to ensure its survival.
The new-and-imporved TNT will have to fulfill six conditions, none of which is anywhere near implementation today. TNT will have to supply a variety of interesting programmes, solve the current technical problems, sign deals with outside contractors for receivers, create an efficient distribution network, develop a French content production system and centralise planning and coordination.
It is now up to the Prime Minister to decide TNT’s future although the prospects are anything but rosy.

(Translated from French)