In response to a referral that France Messagerie submitted on 1 December 2020, today Arcep is publishing its opinion on the company’s proposed new technical, pricing and contractual terms and conditions for 2021.
The substantial changes that France Messagerie has brought to its price schedules are largely in line with the guidelines set by Arcep in its Opinion of 22 October 2020.
The proposed new technical, pricing and contractual terms and conditions submitted by France Messagerie for 2021 have evolved significantly from those applied in 2020.
This overhaul of its price schedules aligns with Arcep’s earlier guidelines [1]: in particular, the Authority had stipulated that the group discounts that were previously granted ran counter to the diversity and pluralism objectives contained in the Bichet Act. France Messagerie has removed them. By now including all of its services in its price schedules, France Messagerie has also made its technical, pricing and contractual terms and conditions more transparent.
Eliminating the “price squeeze” (a potential distortion between the price and cost structures) which had existed up until now in the technical, pricing and contractual terms and conditions set for daily newspapers, also marks a positive change, and one that will help limit the risks assumed by the company.
France Messagerie must nevertheless further reduce existing risks to ensure its sound economic health over the long term
In light of the hypotheses contained in the business plan submitted by France Messagerie, notably with respect to forecast sales volumes, its economic and financial equilibrium seems fragile. Should this situation persist, it would threaten the continuity of distribution for daily political and general interest news publications. France Messagerie must explore avenues to become more profitable.
To this end, Arcep invites France Messagerie to provide a quantified assessment of the implementation of its new price schedules along with an update, as of the end of Q1 2021, of its budget forecasts for 2021, by 15 April of this year.
Arcep is also asking that France Messagerie to provide a detailed account of the costs incurred by quotation-based services and the revenue they generate, by 1 June 2021 at the latest.
[1] Arcep Opinion No. 2020-0140 of 6 February 2020 on the technical, pricing and contractual terms and conditions for the services provided by the firm Presstalis and Arcep Opinion No. 2020-1159 of 22 October 2020 on the technical, pricing and contractual terms and conditions for the services provided by France Messagerie
Associated document: