France

[FR] Advertising to Be Abolished on France Télévisions Channels, but not before 2016!

IRIS 2011-1:1/27

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

The Act of 5 March 2009 provides for the total abolition of advertising on public-sector television channels starting on 30 November 2011, the final date for switching from analog to digital television. And yet the Government announced in September 2010 that it was setting up a two-year moratorium, until January 2014, before abolition (see IRIS 2010-9/25). This was incorporated in the draft national budget for 2011, which was only adopted after a number of twists and turns. On 17 November 2010 the National Assembly voted in favour of the definitive maintenance of daytime advertising on France Télévisions’ channels, thereby adopting - contrary to the Budget Minister’s opinion - an amendment tabled by Michèle Tabarot, a parliamentary majority MP and chair of the Cultural Affairs Committee. The grounds for the amendment, which went further than a simple two-year moratorium, was the budget impact of abolishing advertising, as this was deemed incompatible with the current state of public finances. The bill then went to the Senate. On 4 December, with the Government’s approval, the Senate adopted a new amendment totally abolishing advertising on France TV starting in January 2016! It was not until a meeting of the Joint Commission (Commission Mixte Paritaire - CMP), comprising 7 members of the Senate and 7 MPs, that a joint version for both chambers of Parliament was reached. Meeting on 14 December, the CMP eventually validated the Senate’s vote and the total abolition of advertising on France Télévisions’ channels in 2016. Although among the Prime Minister’s entourage this was said to be “a good compromise”, a number of MPs were more ironic - as one of them said, “Given the state of our public finances, daytime advertising on France Télévisions is likely to be with us for a long time yet, even beyond 2016!”