France 4
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | French |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | France Télévisions |
France 4 (pronounced [fʁɑ̃s katʁ]) is a French free-to-air television channel owned by France Télévisions, focused on entertainment programming. Originally launched as Festival, the channel took its current name in 2005 when it became a free channel. The colour of France 4 is purple.
The channel targets young audience, and children during the day. In 2016, France 4 was refocused on family.
History
Festival (1996-2005)
On 24 June 1996, France Télévision established Festival, a satellite channel for the TPS satellite service, which France Télévision co-owned at the time. Festival offered a selection of films and television series, many of them previously seen on France 2, France 3 and Arte.
France 4 (2001-present)
In 2001, when the French digital terrestrial television system was in its developmental stage, the socialist government of Lionel Jospin asked the president of France Télévisions to consider a bouquet of public channels to be broadcast digitally, so that the public broadcaster could have involvement in this project. France Télévisions proposed the creation of three new channels: "France 1", "France 4" and "France 6", an all-news channel, a channel dedicated to the regions, and a channel featuring repeat broadcasts of France 2 and France 3.
Eventually, France Télévisions would have four digital channels besides France 2 and France 3, with three of them occupying existing channels: France 5 (now 24 hours a day), Arte (also 24 hours a day) and La Chaîne Parlementaire, a legislative channel. France Télévisions thus only had space for one more new channel. The group eventually proposes the existing "Festival" to be the "new" channel. On October 23, 2002, the Audiovisual Superior Council authorised Festival to appear in digital. France Télévisions planned for Festival to be renamed "France 8" (as it would have been the eighth television network in France) or "France Prime", but opted instead for France 4 after being allocated to channel 14. The newly created France 4 proposed to present a variety of entertainment, sports, fiction, cinema and series.
In July 2009, France 4 began broadcasting in 16:9. On 6 October 2011, France 4 launched its HD feed.
Since 31 March 2014, France 4 timeshares most of its daily time with the Ludo and Zouzous blocks (now Okoo).
In June 2018, a proposal was issued to shut down France 4 as part of planned reforms of France Télévisions, with programming dispersed to France 5 and digital platforms. The proposal was criticised by France's animation industry.[1]
Okoo was launched on 9 November 2019 as the new children brand of France Télévisions used as a block in TV and a streaming service, in addition to being broadcast all day on France 4. Programming and content for teens and young adults is currently available online on France.tv Slash. France 4 was originally planned to close on 9 August 2020.[2] However, in July 2020, just days before its planned closure, the French Government announced that the channel would continue to broadcast for another 12 months, whilst also pushing back the closure of France Ô by a month, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | Annual average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | - | - | - | - | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.4% |
| 2008 | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.1% |  0.9%
|
| 2009 | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1.3% | 1.1%
|
| 2010 | 1.4% | 1.4% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 1.6%
|
| 2011 | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2.0%
|
| 2012 | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.0% | 2.2% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 2.1%
|
| 2013 | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 1.9% | 1.7% | 1.7% |  1.8%
|
| 2014 | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.5% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.6% | 2.1% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 1.6%
|
| 2015 | 1.5% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1.7%
|
| 2016 | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.9% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 1.7% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 1.8% | 2.0% | 1.8% | 1.9% | 1.9%
|
| 2017 | 1.9% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 1.9% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1.8%
|
| 2018 | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.8% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.6%
|
| 2019 | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.6% |
| 2020 | 1.6% | 1.4% | 1.3% | 1.2% |
|
Visual identity
Logos
-
Logo of Festival from 2000 to 2005 -
Logo of France 4 from 2008 to 2011 -
Logo of France 4 from September 2011 to April 2014 -
Logo of France 4 from 2014 to 2018 -
Logo of France 4 HD from 2008 to 2011 -
Logo of France 4 from 2018 -
Alternative logo of France 4 from 2018
Slogans
- 1996: "La chaîne des films de prestige"
- 2005: "Le plaisir avant tout"
- 2011: "Elle n'a pas fini de vous surprendre"
- 2011: "Stimulant sans arômes artificiels"
- October 2012: "L'esprit positif"
- 2014: "Ça déchaîne"
See also
References
- ^ Keslassy, Elsa (2018-06-06). "French Animation Industry Dismayed by Proposed Broadcasting Reforms". Variety. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
- ^ "France 4 et France Ô fermeront le 9 août prochain". ozap.com.
External links
- Official website (in French)
| Main channels |
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional channels | ||||||
| Internet | ||||||
| Partnerships | ||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
