The Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel has declared that it will carry out its commitment to deploy digital radio in France, and in September 2012 will select candidates for licenses to cover Paris, Marseille and Nice.

This announcement came after the French government confirmed that it will not request the priority attribution of frequencies for digital radio broadcasting for Radio France and Radio France International but that it reserves the possibility of a future engagement in function of initial results on the subject.

Sharing the government’s concern about budgetary constraints, the CSA said in the press release that it hopes solutions will become available to help finance community radio stations, among the contenders for digital radio licenses.

The CSA also emphasized that it was delighted that its request to authorize the DAB+ standard in France was welcomed favorably by the government, and that it would like all radio broadcasters in the country to support the technology.

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