Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel

The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (French: [kɔ̃sɛj sypeʁjœʁ də lɔdjɔvizɥɛl], lit. Superior Audiovisual Council), abbreviated CSA, was a French institution created in 1989 whose role was to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television. The creation of the Haute Autorité de la Communication Audiovisuelle was a measure founded in the Socialist Party's electoral program of 1981, called 110 Propositions for France.

Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel

Last logo of the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel.
Industry	Administration publique générale
Predecessor	Commission nationale de la communication et des libertés
Founded	January 17 1989
Defunct	December 31, 2021
Fate	The CSA was merged with the HADOPI law to create the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication.
Successor	Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication

The CSA replaced the Commission Nationale de la Communication et des Libertés (CNCL), which itself replaced the Haute Autorité de la Communication Audiovisuelle, created in 1982 to supervise the attribution of radio frequencies to the private radio sector, which was judged better than allowing the anarchic creation of the radios libres ("free radios"), mainly composed of amateurs and NGOs.

The CSA always acted after content was shown on a TV channel or heard on a radio, so it was not an instance of preventative censorship . Notably, the CSA asked the Government of France to forbid Al-Manar TV in 2005 because of charges of hate speech; it also claimed that MED TV was close to the Kurdish PKK, on grounds not of "evidences" but of "concording elements".[1][2]

On September 24, 2019, Franck Riester announced that the bill relating to audiovisual communication and cultural sovereignty in the digital age examined by the National Assembly in the first half of 2020 would include the merger of the CSA and HADOPI to form the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique; ARCOM).[3] The bill is put on hold until April 8, 2022 when it is presented to the Council of Ministers under the name "bill relating to the regulation and protection of access to cultural works in the digital age".[4] The merger became effective on January 1, 2022.[5]