French TV

I wonder if any of our French commentators would know when and why France Télévisions are allowed extra commercial breaks in daytime since around November last year?

I've largely seen these breaks go out on France 2 during game shows, but not every show has breaks in the middle of shows.

AFAIK France Télévision are allowed the breaks they want (before 8pm-6am), during "normal" non-movies programmes, as long as the two ad breaks have a gap of 20 minutes (France still hasn't got rid of the "20 minute rule" EU still used to have)

It's not like the UK where OFCOM dictates how many breaks a programme according to the length should have, or at least, I don't think so

Curiously, one difference between ad breaks in the UK and France is that France has them fewer, sometimes much fewer, but longer

But public broadcasters (France Télévision and Arte) can only have an average of 6 minutes of adverts per hour, with a maximum of 8 minutes.
10 minutes average per hour on commercial DTT channels with a maximum of 12 minutes, and average of 12 minutes and maximum of 12 minutes with "other commercial channels"

https://www.csa.fr/Proteger/Publicite-et-communications-commerciales/La-publicite

Although there is no Franceinfo soir tonight due to striking, I have to say these changes have seemingly worked, the duo works much better than presenter A plus B (and C in this case) - I always think the Franceinfo style where a (usually male) lead presenter is assisted by a deputy (usually a female) is somewhat archaic for a modern channel, it's as if the lead presenter daren't read their own headlines. In this new format, the presentation is shared and the evening flows better. Something to think about for the other tranches IMO.

To give Franceinfo credit, they have two female anchors on the morning show at the weekend and appear to have a higher percentage of presenters from minority groups compared to the other domestic news channels.

To celebrate 15 years of TF1 pay channel Ushuaia TV.

For those of you with access to the Molotov IPTV platform, BFM Paris and BFM Lyon have been added in full HD, so viewers can watch those channels throughout France (and throughout the EU if on a paid plan).

Some interesting allegations of bullying and harassment on Télématin that current presenter Laurent Bignolas received when he joined the show in 2018 from colleagues who weren't happy at budget cuts and editorial changes to the programme.

"There was a real desire to destabilise it"

https://www.lalibre.be/culture/medias-tele/crise-a-telematin-laurent-bignolas-s-explique-5e3d0704d8ad5878d8625fdc

Yes, although I think this article misses the point of many of the grievances - when he took over, France Télévisions outsourced some of its production as well as wanting to in-house some of the team who were on freelance/recurring temporary contracts - offering them lesser pay and conditions on a permanent contract. Bignolas' arrival must have added to this but anyone in that scenario would likely have come under fire unless they were an 'original'.

It is clear that there is some kind of backlash as many of the former team who have left/been kicked out have made appearances either on Sophie Le Saint's afternoon bulletins or Nathanaël de Rincquesen's Franceinfo soir, all of whom appeared very happy to be on air again with them and somewhat nostalgic about the old days. It's a very nice moment for the viewer yet does underline that they have been exiled.

I've never quite understood the format of Télématin , it seems to be a 3 hour-long ramble interspersed with the weather, light features and a hardcore political interview which is really out of place. Now there is the Franceinfo matinale which makes more sense to me, I watch that when in France (or the F24 French morning Paris Direct , which is very good).

On the other hand, there seems to be more pro Bignolas talent on TéléMatin these days. Flore Maréchal doing the sport a couple of days per week with other Franceinfo colleagues Karine Basté-Regis and Julien Benedetto providing bulletins.

There does seem to be a lot more sharing between Franceinfo and TéléMatin using their reporters for the studio features during the half hourly bulletins, along with sport using the same presenter on both programmes.

I'm posting this very late, but it may be interesting to take a look at the French TV ratings for March. Given the circumstances, it's not surprising that the news channels all saw gains, with BFM TV breaking all records and placing behind only the "big 4" French TV networks (although I am surprised that Franceinfo TV still finished dead last among the major DTT channels, behind even L'Équipe, whose audience was decimated in the second half of the month by the near-total absence of sporting events).

ARTICLE: https://www.ozap.com/actu/audiences-mars-tf1-leader-en-baisse-france-2-brille-record-historique-pour-bfmtv-lci-et-franceinfo/591280

By the way, this is what the combined morning news simulcast on France 2 and Franceinfo TV looks like these days: