President Nicolas Sarkozy is proposing a complete ban on public TV commercials in France. To make up for revenue lost, the country will tax the internet and mobile phones.
The IHT calls the move “virtually without precedent.” The move is positioned as a means to protect old streams of income.
With that in mind, it’s easy to look at the ‘net and mobile as the bad guys. But to penalize growing industries for their effect on old technology?
Please be more backward.
Anywho, the Sarkozy government may draft a bill of the proposal, which has to move through both houses of Parliament. If it passes, expect big changes in France by January 1, ’09 at the earliest. (Sarkozy is hoping to make it happen before Q4 of ’08, but it doesn’t look likely.)
Stuff’s changing fast over there. Didn’t the smoking ban just formalize?
