Row over TV via ADSL
The first French television system via ADSL was launched on December 1 by the provider Free and it has already sparked off a row. This new technology allows users to see around 20 free channels and a whole host of pay channels. The initiative by Free is being closely monitored by the competition in the sector, including TF1, linked to France Télécom, which is promising that if the new technology is a success, it will launch TNT (Televisione Digitale Terrestre) in 2005.
In the meantime there’s also a different debate about the issue: various professional organisations from the film and audiovisual sector claim that the offer by Free is "against the law on intellectual property" because "the major part of individual contracts set out by producers with the TV networks don’t make provision for the simultaneous broadcasting of their films on different networks". A call for negotiations to be started with Free has now been made by ARP (Authors-Directors-Producers), CSPEFF (the Trade Union for Producers and Exporters of French Films), API (the Association of Independent Producers), SPI (the Trade Union of Independent Producers), UPF (the Union of Film Producers), USPA (the Union of Audiovisual Production) and SPFA (the trade union of animation producers).
(Translated from French)
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