2015 Guide of Digital Channels in France

The thirteenth edition of the Guide on Digital Channels was published in April 2015 by the French regulator CSA, the DGMIC (Directorate General of Media and Cultural Industries of the Ministry of Culture and Communication), CNC (Centre national du cinéma), A.C.C.e.S (Association des chaînes conventionnées éditrices de services) and SNP-TV (Syndicat national de la publicité télévisée).

This guide, which aims to be a working tool for media professionals, provides a comprehensive overview of digital channels which were licensed or registered on DTT (FTA and Pay), cable, ADSL or mobile networks.

• At the end of 2014, 31 national TV channels were available to viewers on DTT (24 FTA and 7 pay TV), 11 of them were available in high definition. There are 240 channels licensed or registered on cable, satellite, IPTV and mobile networks.

• The progression of catch-up TV continued, both in volume of hours and number of videos; the 10 first months of 2014 show a record number of 377.8 million videos viewed - an increase of 6.3% in a year.

• In terms of equipment, the number of TV sets sold in 2013 declined by one million units compared to 2012, while the number of tablets sold increased by 72% over the year.

• In 2014, French viewers spent three hours and 41 minutes a day on average watching television (5 min less for the second year in a row) ; the audience of traditional terrestrial channels continued to decline (64,5%, - 0.5% compared to 2013).

The guide also provides key data from CSA and CNC on audiovisual and cinematographic production; revealing inter alia that investments of channels have increased of 8,1%. The document also looks at economic trends for digital channels and highlights a decrease of the turnover of free-to-air channels (-2%), whereas pay TV witnessed a stabilisation in 2013. In the appendix, the guide presents this year's main data on the digital TV markets in Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Press release (in French)

Guide on the French Digital Channels: "Guide des chaînes numériques" (in French)

Summary of the Guide (in French)

Source: Website of the French CSA