FRANCE 24: French Perspective, Global Reach

The international news channel FRANCE 24 has been rapidly growing its global footprint. Philippe Rouxel, the VP of worldwide distribution at FRANCE 24, talks to TV Real Weekly about the channel’s expanded worldwide reach and what the priorities for growth are looking ahead.

A relatively young entrant in the international news landscape, FRANCE 24 has established a presence in more than 125 million homes in some 180 countries worldwide, all in under four years time. "For the initial three years of operation, we focused very much on Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)," says Philippe Rouxel, the VP of worldwide for distribution at FRANCE 24, which is available in English, French and Arabic. "Now we want to go beyond EMEA, and that’s we we’re going east with our Asia Pacific development and west with all the Americas."

The recent carriage announcements from FRANCE 24 are proof positive that the channel is servicing its global goals. On Bastille Day, FRANCE 24 launched its French-language service in the U.S. with DISH Network, reaching 15 million subscribers. Though the English version had been available previously in Washington D.C. and select hours of the day in New York City, Rouxel is keen to secure full U.S. carriage for the English-language FRANCE 24. He says the deal is the "the first step in a step-by-step approach for entering a market that is one of the toughest on the planet…. We are trying and will continue to try to enter the marketplace by many different ways."

FRANCE 24 also recently notched up further coverage in Russia and Ukraine through a deal with NTV+. Already available on several ADSL and cable platforms in these two countries, FRANCE 24 took on an additional 500,000 subscribers for its worldwide reach.

Earlier this month, a deal was signed in Turkey, where the channel has been added to the DIGITURK satellite platform. Rouxel says that landing carriage in Turkey was important for three key reasons. The first is its demographic composition, as Turkey is on pace to be one of the most populated countries of the European continent by 2015. "We find Turkey extremely interesting because it’s where the new generation of opinion leaders are going to be," says Rouxel. The second is because of the country’s thriving economic climate, and the third reason is its geographical situation, in the middle of Europe and Asia, between west and east.

The Turkish deal also benefits FRANCE 24’s focus on out-of-home broadcasting, as DIGITURK is available in a majority of luxury and upscale hotels across the country. Rouxel says this type of out-of-home distribution is not only important, but is essential for a news channel like FRANCE 24. "It’s a very strong, substantial part of our strategy," he explains. "If we are not in the out-of-home distribution segment then we are non-existent. For an international news channel you have to be where the opinion leader is or will be. That means at home, out of home, in hotels, but also on the move."

This has driven FRANCE 24’s mobile efforts, with iPhone and iPad applications and a host of broadband offerings. "We need to be on all the screens where the opinion leaders can see FRANCE 24’s output. Out-of-home broadcasting deals have been and will be crucial to our business and our visibility strategy. By signing framework agreements with international hotel chains, we’ve entered more than 1 million hotel rooms worldwide." Rouxel acknowledges that these efforts have mainly been focused on EMEA but are spreading out to the world at large.

The next steps of growth for FRANCE 24 are twofold, Rouxel explains. One is geographical. "We need to get into Latin America big time," he notes. "We need to develop initial efforts in Asia Pacific. We’ve started there and have a lot of good leads for distribution all over Asia. Asia is fantastic for us because they are definitely welcoming a new source of information, an alternative source of international news."

Rouxel continues, "Our plan, geographically, is a global presence. We need and want to be reachable everywhere, from any geographical point on this planet. What we have achieved is that you can, technically speaking, view one version or another of FRANCE 24 from any country of this world. That’s after less than four years of existence. We have a global satellite footprint and we are very proud of that."

Yet Rouxel says that this is only the beginning. "We need to deepen and strengthen the network that we’ve already established in EMEA—our base. In Asia we need to gain new marketplaces where sometimes it’s not easy because you’ve got license fees to deal with and regulatory constraints. In America it’s more of a protectionism issue. In Canada it’s a capacity issue, with digital capacity getting eaten by HD programming. Latin America is a totally virgin market for us. With that, we’ve got a lot to do on our plate."

Another key part of the FRANCE 24 growth strategy, according to Rouxel, is getting the channel everywhere as quickly as possible in live and VOD format. "We are totally VOD-ready," he explains. "The beauty of being a late entrant in the international news channel segment is that we’ve decided to invest in the latest, state-of-the-art digital technology, which allows FRANCE 24 to be immediately available in a VOD format. Whenever anything appears in the live broadcast stream of FRANCE 24, it is immediately thereafter available in a VOD format for any type of other platform: PC, TV, mobile. We don’t see a difference anymore between linear and nonlinear."

To watch highlights from FRANCE 24, please click here.