FRANCE 24

CHANNEL: FRANCE 24

COUNTRY: Originates in France and available in some 160 countries, potentially reaching 96 million households with international broadcasts.

LAUNCH DATE: December 6, 2006

OWNERSHIP: FRANCE 24 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the public-funded holding company Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France.

DISTRIBUTION: Broadcast in French, English and Arabic of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and on the East Coast of the U.S. FRANCE 24 can be accessed by cable, satellite, DSL and live on mobiles and on FRANCE24.com.

DESCRIPTION: Covering international news from a French perspective, 24/7, FRANCE 24’s programming is based on five pillars: news, economy, culture, sport and weather.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT:
Chairman of the Board: Alain de Pouzilhac
CEO: Christine Ockrent
General Manager, News, Programming & Multimedia: Vincent Giret
General Manager, Distribution, Technology & Support Services:
Jean-Yves Bonsergent

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: Providing viewers across the globe an alternative source of information, FRANCE 24 looks to present a fresh view of international current events. The channel has a "French approach to treating news," says Alain de Pouzilhac, the chairman of FRANCE 24. "This is demonstrated by confrontation of points of view, diversity of opinion, defence of multilateralism, secularism, solidarity and giving prominence to culture and the art of living." Today, the channel competes with the likes of BBC World News, CNN International, Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera English.

In three different languages—French, English and Arabic—the channel’s programming grid is divided more or less equally between news coverage and news magazines or special reports. And around 80 percent of its schedule is dedicated to programs produced internally. This includes news bulletins every half hour, as well as talk shows such as The FRANCE 24 Debate, The Business Interview and Face-Off. Other original productions include magazine programs like Reporters, Culture and Beyond Business, a bi-monthly look at hyper-competition in the global economy. Reporters, a weekly investigation program that presents reports from around the world, recently won the AIB Media Excellence Award for "clearest coverage of a single news event" for a subject filmed in Burma.

There are also magazine programs from third-party producers outside the channel, including Environment and Fashion, and the weather reports and sports bulletins are also brought in from elsewhere.

"From the very outset, FRANCE 24 put the Internet at the heart of its strategy and symbolically launched on the Internet one day before broadcasting across the airwaves," explains Vincent Giret, the general manager in charge of news, programming and multimedia. FRANCE24.com is available in French, English and Arabic and offers live streaming of the three channels as well as a large amount of programs in VOD. Special reports and additional commentary (articles, journalists’ blogs, photos, ‘twitter’ contributions, etc.) allow the viewer to go "beyond the news" to explore current events in-depth.

WHAT’S NEW: The channel continues to ramp up its new-media extensions, including a strong focus on mobile, explains Jean-Yves Bonsergent, the general manager in charge of distribution, technology and support services. "FRANCE 24 aims to bring the news to the consumer, wherever he or she may be and as such the mobile phone plays an important role in the channel’s strategy. At the cutting edge of innovation, FRANCE 24 is the first channel in the world to broadcast live on the iPhone (via WiFi and 3G) and is also available live and in VOD on other mobiles such as smart phones and all Windows Mobile phones."

WEBSITE: www.france24.com