BY LAURENCE KAUFMANN Television in France is going through an unusual number of upheavals these days, politically, economically and technologically: • A new government regulation (Television du Futur) regarding the modernization of broadcasting will soon be put in place. • New competitors and free digital channels are cutting away at audiences. • Cable, satellite and broadband TV outlets are continuing to multiply and grow, and soon, so will local TV channels. • The television advertising market is getting more complex with new forms of media consumption by consumers. • Broadcasters will turn to digital this year and are organizing future HD channels while positioning themselves in what is going to be a challenging new market: Personal Mobile Television. • The TV sector must also take into account the still developing VoD market and must make sure to use it as a complementary source of revenue. If the effects of the fast-rising Internet advertising market and globalization are to be considered, one easily understands that the TV sector in France is going through a unique, turbulent period. Particularly challenged is the public TV sector, generally called France Télevisions, which is made up of France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, and RFO (the overseas French network). All of these have to compete not only with France’s historical heavyweight, national private broadcasters, but also with socalled “other televisions,” which indicate new technology. The birth of new digital channels, combined with the increasing number and growth of cable, satellite and broadband channels, has also had an effect on the audience of French broadcasters. In addition, the public television sector was poorly served in the assignment of free-to-air digital channels: nine new private networks emerged against only one new public channel: France 4. (Arte, France 5 and RFO were also given frequencies, as were two parliamentary channels, which share a frequency.) Moreover, new private digital channels, such as TF1 and M6, which are part of large conglomerates, have access to well-known programs. They also dominate in the field of acquired reality TV shows, which are attracting sought-after young viewers. Competition is therefore becoming fiercer in an environment that is not particularly favorable to the expansion of public television. The raison d’être of public television stations has historically been based on some key notions: pluralism, ethics, quality and difference. However, the media have evolved in a market economy where reference key words are “audience,” “marketing,” “brand” and “profit.” This implies substantial research, development, and program testing, leading to heavy financial investments. The question now is how France Télevisions, as a public service station, can reaffirm its identity, and become a modern, complementary choice for French viewers when it has to meet restrictive broadcasting requirements with limited resources? The president of France Télevisions, Patrick de Carolis, asked for an increase of the TV License Fee (at 116 euros per year, it is the lowest in Europe for the number of channels), which represents 60 percent of its revenues. He will not be able to count on it. In fact, the country’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, would like to eliminate advertising on public TV and replace it with revenues generated by a levy on the commercial TV sector. I would argue that it would probably be much easier for France Télevisions if it did away with its limited advertising revenues — which account for 40 percent of its resources or $1 billion — and instead, received public donations, like PBS in the U.S. This year, France Télevisions’ budget will be increased by 3.5 percent, but that is not enough to cover the double broadcast in analog and digital in preparation for HD. Therefore, its president, de Carolis, foresees a reform of the public TV sector in 2008. His goal is to modernize and harmonize the budget, enabling him to save a few million euros per year. For this reason, France Télevisions will not replace retiring employees. Viewing state television as if it were public television, but managed like a private company without selling its soul to the commercial devil, is probably the main challenge facing France Télevisions today. It therefore could only reinvent itself by working on the content level. To a large extent, comparisons between commercial content and that of public broadcasters show that the programming is similar, apart from documentaries, news magazines and TV movies. However, finding new artistic talents and allowing innovative concepts to reach the airways, requires that programmers not be obsessed with ratings numbers. The astonishing success of the daily soap, Plus Belle La Vieon France 3, which went from six percent market share at its debut in 2004 to more than 20 percent in 2007 (with a peak of 23 percent) proves that time and risk-taking can be as valuable as money. France 3 had it in mind to create a local version of British soap Coronation Street and spent time and money researching the artistic and economic developments of soaps around the world. Despite disastrous debuts, France 3 management gave Plus a chance and engaged it to run 100 episodes, a risky decision considering the pressure it faced. The creative team went back to work on the series and the audience rose spectacularly. This gave way to other good news: merchandising, DVD sales and Internet revenues. In addition, France Télevisions documentaries and magazines channel, France 5, is being rewarded for its innovative, original programming. It became the fifth most watched national channel in the highly competitive digital market in October 2007, proving that quality does pay. This phenomenon is a reminder of Apostrophes , which ran on Antenne 2 (now France 2), in the ’80s. Some Americans could hardly believe that the TF1 competitor would carry a live program on writers and books in primetime! Who would have thought that Apostropheswould become one of the channel’s most popular programs, drawing substantial viewership numbers? It even became familiar to a good number of U.S. viewers of New York’s CUNY TV, which aired the show, that for five years was named “Best World TV Debate” by the American review Connoisseur . Recently, at the end of an episode of Inside the Actors Studio, James Lipton immortalized it, paying tribute to the “great Bernard Pivot in Apostrophes .” Laurence Kaufmann, a former executive of Antenne 2 (now France 2), is president of IDM, a Paris-based production and distribution company. V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 20 T e l e v i s i o n i n F r a n c e Challenged Public Sector Has To Become More Challenging Daily soap Plus Belle La Vie Laurence Kaufmann
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