France 24

France 24

Country	France
Ownership
Owner	Groupe TF1 and France Télévisions
Key people	Alain de Pouzilhac

France 24 is a French government-funded global 24-hour satellite and cable TV news channel. France 24 is officially pronounced France Vingt-Quatre, on both the French- and English-language channel. France 24 started broadcasting on 6 December 2006 at 20:29 in Paris (GMT+1). Before July 2006, the project was known as Chaîne Française d'Information Internationale (CFII) or –in English– French International News Network.

Corporate structure

It is run by a partnership between Groupe TF1 and France Télévisions (including France 2 and France 3), with some programmes sourced from Agence France-Presse, Radio France Internationale, TV5MONDE, Arte, EuroNews, and La Chaîne Parlementaire. It is funded by France with an annual budget of approximately €80 million, and is based in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris.

Channel reception

France 24 is available by satellite to most of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as by cable and antenna to New York and Washington, D.C.. Both the French and the French/English channels are available live on the France 24 website, broadcast en direct (live) in Windows Media format. A test version of the Arabic channel can also be found on the website.

Programming

The current news ident

News presenter

France 24 is broadcast on two channels, one in French, the other predominantly in English with 4 to 6 hours of French per day. Arabic and Spanish programming will be added in the course of 2007. Along with 170 journalists of its own, France 24 can call on the resources of the two main French broadcasters (Groupe TF1 and France Télévisions) as well as partners such as AFP. The CEO of France 24 is Alain de Pouzilhac, and its journalist staff includes former ITN presenter Mark Owen and former TF1 newsreader Mélissa Theuriau.

Long-term goals

France 24 intends to give a different view of the news than the Anglophone BBC World and CNN International, which grew in importance with the Iraq war. France 24 wants to put more emphasis on debate, dialogue and the role of cultural difference. It will also be competing with the recently launched Al Jazeera English and Russia Today news channels. The future Arabic and Spanish programming will compete with Al Jazeera's Arabic channel and South America's teleSUR.

The French government has allocated around €100 million for the project. The European Commission gave the green light to France 24 in June, saying it did not breach European Union state aid rules.

The Talk of Paris Show

France 24 propose the first entirely interactive broadcast every friday : The Talk of Paris. Everyone can ask his question to a worldwide personality thanks to a partnership with Dailymotion.

• Record your webcam video to the personality of the Week – The Talk of Paris interactive show

See also

• International broadcasting
• Al Jazeera English
• BBC World
• CNN International
• EuroNews
• Russia Today

External links

• Official Site
• The Talk of Paris - France 24 webpage Interactive Show

Launch coverage

• France launches world TV channel, BBC News
• France launches global news channel, Al Jazeera English
• Channel provides market with Gallic spin, CNN