The first decision published by the HACA on September 21 concerns the protection of the Ivorian television advertising market in favor of public and private free-to-air television broadcasters in Côte d'Ivoire.
Article 1: "In the television sector, the sale of advertising space to advertisers is reserved for publishers of Ivorian television channels and services approved by the HACA, publishers of television channels and services operating and licensed in a member country of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), and international channels from French-speaking organizations."
Article 2 "Television channels distributed in satellite packages authorized by the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication and operated in Côte d'Ivoire are required to comply with national regulations on services and products prohibited from advertising in Côte d'Ivoire."
The second concerns the definition of the terms and conditions for broadcasting competitions or events of major importance in Côte d'Ivoire.
Article 2: "For the purposes of this Decision, the following competitions or sporting events shall be considered to be of major importance:
1. The African Cup of Nations-CAN (M)
Frequency: every 2 years
Qualifying matches for the Ivory Coast national team and Final Tournament
2. FIFA World Cup (M+W)
Frequency: every 4 years
Qualifying matches for the Ivory Coast national team and Final Tournament
3. UEFA Champions League (Soccer) (M)
Frequency: annually
4. Summer Olympic Games (M+W)
Frequency: every 4 years
5. Basketball Africa League (BAL) (M)
Frequency: annually
6. World Basketball Championship (M+W)
Frequency: every 4 years
7. African Basketball Championship (M)
Frequency: every 4 years
8. World Athletics Championships (M+W)
Frequency: every two years
9. African Football Champions League (M)
Frequency: annually
10. UEFA EURO Soccer (M)
Frequency: every 4 years
11. FIFA Club World Cup (M)
Frequency: annually
12. LIGUE 1 Ivory Coast National Soccer Championship: every year
13. EPL (English Premier League Soccer)
Frequency: annually
14. LIGA (Spain)
Frequency: annually
15. LIGUE 1 (France) (Soccer Championships)
Frequency: annually
The above list may change in terms of the number of competitions or sporting events and their names.
Article 3 "A pay-TV channel may not reserve exclusive rights to broadcast any of these major sporting events. Thus, a pay-TV channel or pay-TV distributor may not acquire the rights to broadcast them on free-to-air television."
Article 4 "Free-to-air national channels must be able to obtain the broadcasting rights for all or part of major sporting events, or at least a significant percentage of the event, including all national team matches and 50% of the final stages (knockout matches, including the final), in accordance with the broadcasting practices for each event. National free-to-air channels that acquire broadcasting rights for a sporting event may broadcast it on all channels through which they are usually distributed (DTT, satellite, internet, etc.), without any restrictions other than those imposed by the organizer of the event."
Article 5: "In the event of simultaneous broadcasting of major sporting events, a pay-TV distributor may not distribute the channels broadcasting these major sporting events on "pay-TV" in the basic package of its satellite bouquet, which includes all free-to-air national channels. It must distribute the pay-TV channels broadcasting these events at a service level that is at least eight thousand (8,000) CFA francs per month higher than that at which the free channel broadcasting the same event is usually distributed. This minimum price difference during the simultaneous broadcast of major sporting events may be waived for a maximum period of seven (7) days as part of promotions aimed at encouraging renewals or when taking out a new subscription. Furthermore, during periods when major sporting events are broadcast, channel distributors are free to offer promotional discounts on the rates of pay-TV channels that do not broadcast these major sporting events or on the equipment required to receive their offers.
Article 6: "Under the right to information on major sporting events, free-to-air national television channels on Ivorian digital terrestrial television that have not obtained the broadcasting rights for these events may broadcast a maximum of three minutes of excerpts from said events, either by retaining the logo of the channel that holds the broadcasting rights or by superimposing the words "Image from…" on the screen.