Grand plan for France Monde reduced, replaced, redacted

Michael Hedges May 3, 2008

It’s been nearly a year since French president Nicholas Sarkozy unveiled his plan to consolidate and reorganize French international broadcasting. One public company would be created – France Monde – under which Radio France Internationale, France 24 and TV5 Monde would merge. The unions objected. The partners objected. Owners of the name objected.

President Sarkozy is a ‘big picture’ guy, most politicians are. How could he have known that TV5 Monde has partners, French language public broadcasters in Switzerland, Belgium and Canada? One can visualize him sending “details, details” in one of his famous SMS messages.

The fate of TV5 Monde, organized as a French language television channel distributing programming produced by French language public broadcasters, reached a diplomatic impasse. “Since the beginning,” said Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) general director Gilles Marchand, “the French position has not changed at all.”  He threatened to pull TSR out of the TV5 Monde partnership. The Belgian Minister for Culture and Media Fadila Lannan said funding a channel with programming primarily coming from France was just not on.

There were high level meetings, low level meetings and even no meetings at all. A scheduled meeting in Paris was cancelled for “lack of a quorum.” Maybe the trains were late.

Alas, an agreement was reached (April 29) and TV5 Monde will continue, more or less intact. As with all diplomatic negotiations structural issues, the minutia, seized the day.

Alain de Pouzilhac replaces François Bonnemain as chairman of the board, but not executive chairman. de Pouzilhac has been chosen by President Sarkozy to lead the France Monde project. Christine Ockrent, named France Monde’s General Director, will not have the same role with TV5 Monde. That job will fall to Marie-Christine Saragossa. Ms Ockrent, a well-known French TV journalist, became a diplomatic eyesore for the other TV5 Monde partners as her life-partner is French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Ms Ockrent will, however, have a seat on the TV5 Monde board.

Once the important part was settled – who sits at the board room table – all that remained was each broadcasters’ share of the schedule… and the budget. “The compromise, in principle, allows a greater presence (in the schedule) for French-speaking productions and…increased financial commitments of the non-French governments in TV5 Monde,” explained Ms Laanan.

In the meantime, France Monde disappeared, at least the name. It seems at least seven organizations claim ownership of the ‘France Monde’ name. One asked for €15 million. All references to ‘France Monde’ in official statements have disappeared.