France’s Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, also known as the CSA, has announced that it plans to launch a public consultation about digital terrestrial radio by the end of May. This consultation is expected to decide which regions of the country should be the next to receive digital radio infrastructure. More than a dozen French cities are up for consideration, and the new digital stations are projected to go on-air by September 2016. Paris, Marseilles, and Nice already have digital radio offerings, and the new additions are slated to give France digital radio coverage for 20% of its population.
The subject of digital radio had lost some momentum in France over the past months. However, five companies have joined the nation’s Alliance for digital terrestrial radio. The new partners are Mediamobile, Rohde & Schwarz, Itas-Tim, OneCast, and RadioCoop. The Alliance also welcomed the announcement of the consultation, noting that it showed continued interest in rolling out the technology.