FRANCE 24

Mr. Alain de Pouzilhac, CEO of FRANCE 24

The name of the first French international news channel is FRANCE 24. Could you tell us what motivated that choice? The name FRANCE 24 was judged most appealing because it immediately suggested a French channel broadcasting international news 24 hours a day.

What will be its geographical coverage?

For the time being, we’re distributed in Europe (from the Atlantic to the Urals), the Near and Middle East, Africa, as well as in New York and Washington DC, to a large extent through SES Global and its satellite subsidiaries Astra and NSS. That means reaching, from the outset, 80 million households with 250 million potential viewers. By 2008/2009, we hope to be distributed across the Americas, in Asia and in the Pacific.

In what languages will FRANCE 24 be available?

Since 7 December, FRANCE 24 has been broadcasting on 2 channels, one entirely in French, the other mainly in English. As of spring 2007, probably in April, we will be offering an Arabic language edition with its own programming. In addition, FRANCE 24 aims to be the convergence channel and operates a Web platform in 3 languages (French – English – Arabic).

What type of audience does FRANCE 24 address?

FRANCE 24 primarily targets opinion leaders. These include (both) traditional opinion leaders in politics, business, international organisations, the media and the universities, and the ‘new opinion leaders’ who are hungry for international news, big users of high tech, extremely wary of one-sided visions of the world and eager to hear conflicting views.

Have you been able to measure expectations for this kind of network in France and elsewhere? What sorts of things are future viewers looking for?

Before we started operating, we had already registered high expectations among our target audiences for a new international news channel with an alternative take on current events. The first data on brand awareness, satisfaction and audience ratings for FRANCE 24 has just started coming in. Not only are the figures excellent; they also confirm that a large majority of the people polled in 5 countries find FRANCE 24 valuable, appealing and different from other channels. They consider it more open to the world, more honest, more concerned with diversity and better able to articulate France’s values. FRANCE 24 is a network that already enjoys extremely high brand awareness and a sizeable following.

How large is your staff, and what resources can the network command?

FRANCE 24 has a team of 380 people with an average age of 31, including 180 bilingual or trilingual journalists, plus special correspondents and other journalists from around the world. We have signed agreements with our parent companies, TF1 and France Télévisions, with the Agence France Presse and with outside media partners such as RFI and RFO. FRANCE 24 is also a member of Eurovision.

What are the key areas covered by your programming?

Airtime on FRANCE 24 is split about evenly between news coverage, current affairs programes and special reports, with the distinguishing feature that programes are updated 24 hours a day. Content is identical across broadcasting languages, with occasional simultaneous translation. News items and reports may be created in French, in English and soon in Arabic, then adapted for use in the other languages. FRANCE 24 is not a ‘translated’ network; it has a single editorial approach across languages. The network is organised around two prime-time slots, 6–9 a.m. and 7–11 p.m. But actually, rapid response is our watchword. Programming is open and flexible, so it can be easily modified to deal with breaking news and reflect the strategic choices of our editorial team.

What leading events will you be covering in the coming months?

FRANCE 24 will be covering the major conflicts of today, particularly in Iraq and Lebanon, while also tracking the situation in Israel/Palestine and in Darfur. We will be keeping a close watch over Iran’s nuclear programme. In Europe, FRANCE 24 will be paying close attention to developments in and in relation to Turkey. And of course, we will be presenting our particular viewpoint on the presidential campaign in France and discussing international policy issues with the candidates.

How do you plan to publicise and promote FRANCE 24 in France and above all abroad?

A large-scale promotion campaign has been launched over all available media – the press, TV, Internet and billboards – with additional, more targeted work conducted with the network’s distribution partners, including ad hoc operations with organisations like our key partner SES-Astra.

To sum things up, if you had to list FRANCE 24’s top three advantages over the competition, what would they be?

Our primary goal is to present international news from a French perspective, which is usually seen to include three aspects: recognition of diversity in the world; a willingness to embrace discussion, in-depth analysis and even confrontation; and last of all, culture and lifestyle. Over and above news coverage, we strive to make sense of current events and provide a different viewpoint from the one you get from other international news channels.