FRANCE / Numéro 23 keeps its broadcasting license

On March 30^th the French Conseil d’Etat annulled the decision made by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA – the French broadcasting watchdog), to revoke the broadcasting license of a channel called Numéro 23. If the CSA’s sanction, published in October 2015, had gone through, this private channel, available on free DTT, would have stopped broadcasting at the end of June 2016.

The CSA accused Numéro 23’s main shareholder, Diversité TV, of trying sell the channel too soon: it had been given the frequency free in 2012.

This week however the Conseil d’Etat rejected the CSA’s accusation, saying that “fraudulent manipulation of the law, which would justify withdrawing the broadcasting license, has not been proved”. It also stated that the channel’s shareholders have “made sufficient funds available for Numéro 23 to operate”, and that the CSA has not been able to “demonstrate that from the outset […] the major shareholder was making a speculative investment.”

In April 2015, the group NextRadioTV negotiated with Diversité TV to purchase the entire capital of Numéro 23. The sale would have generated an estimated €90 million. But the deal fell through when the CSA delivered its verdict. According to Le Monde, Alain Weill, CEO of NextRadioTV, may still be willing to renegotiate the purchase of Numéro 23.

Sources: Le Monde, Les Echos, Capital