Mary Jackson Pitts, Ph.D.

mpitts@astate.edu

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  The French Media

by

Ludivine Andrieux

•      The French government owns 3 basic TV channels out of 6 and some radio stations.

•      CSA= Superior Counsil on Audio-visual

•      Independent administrative authority

•      Guarantees broadcasting freedom

Roles and mission of the CSA

•      Nominates the Presidents of state-owned radio and TV stations

•      Issues broadcasting licenses to FM and AM radio+private television stations

•      Establishes the rules of election campaign programs

•      Program ratings (parental guidance…)

•      Does not have the right to censor

Television

•      Five basic channels that all the population gets for free:

-TF1(privately owned)  

-France 2 (government)

-France 3 (government) > Local news

-France 5 (government) > culture

-M6 (privately owned) > music

- One channel with subscription: Canal + (movie Channel)

Satellite and Cable

•      Two main satellite dishes:

-      TPS (owned by TF1 and M6)

-      Canalsatellite (owned by Canal +)

-  Cable not very popular

Radio

•      About 12 main stations on FM

•      All types (rock, rap, old songs…)

•      US music industry regulations: CSA requires that 40% of songs played during most listened hours have to be in French language to protect French music industry

Newspapers/Magazines

•      Privately owned

•      Newspapers politically oriented

•      All types of magazines

•      Some magazines come from English versions such as Cosmo, Premiere…

Movie industry

•      Several French Production studios such as Gaumont, Canal Production, Bac films…

•      A lot of American films dubbed in French

•      French films export well everywhere in Europe and Asia

Internet

•      Dial-up popular up to about 2 years ago

•      Now, almost everybody who has internet uses DSL/High speed

•      Internet companies include:

-       AOL France

-       Free

-       Club-internet

-       Wanadoo…