| France 24 | |
|---|---|
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| Launched | 2006-12-06 |
| Owned by | Groupe TF1 and France Télévisions |
| Country | France |
| Formerly called | Chaîne Française d'Information Internationale (before July 2006) |
| Sister channel(s) | TF1: TF1 LCI Eurosport TF6 France Télévisions: |
| Website | www.france24.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Atlantic Bird | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 517 |
| Sky Italia | Channel 538 (French) |
| TV Vlaanderen Digitaal | Channel 55 (English) Channel 56 (French) |
| Cable | |
| KDG | Channel 836(French), 849(English) - only in upgraded networks |
| UPC Romania | Channel 143 |
France 24 (pronounced France Vingt-Quatre [fʁɑ̃s vɛ̃'katʁ]) on both the French- and English-language edition) is an international news and current affairs television channel. It started broadcasting on 6 December 2006. Funded by the French government and based in Paris, the channel officially gives a French perspective on world news. Currently it offers variants in English and Arabic in addition to French. 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, near Paris.
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Programming
France 24 is broadcast on two channels, one in French, the other predominantly in English with 4 to 6 hours of French per day.[1] Arabic and Spanish programming will be added in the course of 2007. German and Mandarin will be added by 2010. [2] France 24's programming is divided more or less equally between news coverage and news magazines or special reports. Along with 220 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.
The Talk of Paris
The Talk of Paris is a program containing an interview with important European politicians. The program invites viewers and other politicians to send in video-questions.(in a partnership with French-based video sharing website Dailymotion) Another segment is a profile of the guest. The show is broadcast every Friday.
History
Channel inception
The media's perception was that the channel was a brainchild of former president Jacques Chirac, famous for defending the position of the French language in the world, specifically versus the English domination in this media category.[3]
Long-term goals
France 24 intends to give a different view of the news than the Anglophone BBC World and CNN International. 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 and Russia Today's Arabic channels 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.
Availability
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, DC. 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. On 1 April 2007, the Irish terrestrial channel TG4 began carrying retransmissions of France 24 overnight. Previously, it had retransmitted EuroNews. In 2007 France 24 started a VoD service on Virgin Media, allowing customers to access weekly news updates and programmes to watch when they choose.
Technology
France 24 turned to Avid for the installation of its own broadcast systems, as well as installations from other IT or traditional video suppliers such as Thomson/GVG, Cisco, Harris, HP, and IBM under a US$9.1 million contract that was awarded in May 2006. The project was the first of its kind for Avid, as it challenged the company to meet tight deadlines, overcome corporate cultural and language differences, and sit at the center of designing, coordinating, and implementing all technical resources. France 24 achieves its news-production goals using a completely file-based workflow, pulling in content from partners TF1 (a private French television network) and France Télévisions (the French public national television broadcaster) as needed. Content from the Web can also be easily brought into this unique production environment. With all of the content and story elements available from their desktops, journalists can easily reformat content for distribution via cable or satellite television, the Internet, or mobile phones. The journalist environment includes Avid iNEWS newsroom management systems as well as Avid NewsCutter editing systems, which enable users to create voice-over and voice-over-plus-sound on segments without tying up edit suites. The iNEWS systems can also handle subscription newswire feeds and make them available to journalists’ desktops or even laptops, enabling these stories to be incorporated into the station’s own news stories. At the same time, Avid NewsCutter XP and Deko systems are used by editors and graphic artists for comprehensive creative editing and news graphics. The 1,000-square meter (3,280-square foot) newsroom also uses an Avid Interplay production management solution to tie together the workflow, including Avid ISIS shared-storage systems and Avid AirSpeed systems; the newsroom’s Avid Thunder servers and the Omneon Spectrum Media server handle on-air playback. The combination of Avid Unity ISIS and Avid Interplay systems ensures real-time media access and media management throughout the newsroom for fast, efficient story creation. An Avid DekoCast edge-graphics system handles master control and channel branding as the same news bulletins are broadcast on three streams simultaneously in French, English, and Arabic by news presenters at opposite ends of the newsroom. Five studios are also on hand (three are located in the newsrooms) while 100-square meter (328-square foot) and 30-square meter (nearly 100-square foot) studios are used for talk shows and magazine programs.
See also
- International broadcasting
- Al Jazeera English
- BBC World
- Russia Today TV
- PRESS TV
- CCTV-9
- CNN International
- Deutsche Welle
- EuroNews
- Nile TV
References
- ^ France 2, "La chaîne tricolore France 24 prend l'antenne, 5.12.2006"
- ^ [German and Mandarin planned by France 24]
- ^ France launches News Channel], BBC News
External links
- Official Site
- France 24(English Channel) on Youtube
- France 24 on Youtube
- France 24 - The Talk of Paris Interactive Show
- Observer France 24
- France 24 pre-launch promo trailer
- France 24's article on Center on Public Diplomacy's wikipedia
- How to watch France 24 via Satellite in North America
Launch coverage
- France launches world TV channel, BBC News
- France launches global news channel, Al Jazeera English
- Channel provides market with Gallic spin, CNN
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| Africa | CNBC Africa • SABC Africa • Nile TV International |
| Asia | ABS-CBN News Channel • Al Jazeera English • CNBC Asia • Channel NewsAsia • CCTV-9 • Press TV • CTV News Channel • TVBS-NEWS • CTi News • Phoenix InfoNews Channel • STAR News • SET News • Era News • Unique Business News • ETTV News • ETtoday • FTV News • NDTV 24x7 • YTN |
| Europe | BBC World • CNBC Europe • EuroNews • France 24 • Russia Today • Sky News • Deutsche Welle • SKY TG24 • TVE 24H • SIC Notícias |
| North America | Bloomberg Television • Caribbean Media Corporation • CBC Newsworld • CNBC • CNN International • Fox News Channel • VOA TV |
| Oceania | TVNZ 7 |
| South America | teleSUR • TV Chile |
