we need “a device that gives visibility” if it disappeared, underlines the president of Arcom

Roch-Olivier Maistre, president of Arcom (ex-CSA), believes Tuesday March 8 on France Inter that it is necessary to find “a device that gives visibility” to public broadcasting if the fee allowing its financing were abolished, as proposed by four candidates in the presidential election.

The audiovisual license fee has so far been paid at the same time as the housing tax, which will disappear at the start of 2023. Emmanuel Macron, Valérie Pécresse, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour propose to abolish it if they are elected. “We now know that several candidates are proposing the removal of the levy, but not what they are proposing instead”, emphasizes Roch-Olivier Maistre.

“We must in any case find a mechanism that ensures this sustainability of funding, this stability if we want to have this strong public service.”

Roch-Olivier Maistre

at franceinfo

The president of Arcom does not close any door on the integration into the state budget of funds to finance public broadcasting, whether this takes the form of a programming law or specific allocations. “You have to have a criterion of independence, he insists. Why not consider, if we take this route, that the regulator [de l’audiovisuel] gives an opinion each year on the allocations allocated to the public service?

Public audiovisual companies “need visibility, stability, dynamism in their financing and, at the same time, independence”, concludes Roch-Olivier Maistre. Arcom says it is awaiting the conclusions of a mission led by the General Inspectorate of Finance, in order to observe the proposals made for the financing of public broadcasting.