France Télévisions faces call to make more savings

France Télévisions and France’s other public broadcaster organisations could be forced to find significant cost savings after the French government demanded economies in the region of €80 million, according to a report in Le Monde.

According to the paper, which did not name its sources, France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde – the international media unit that includes France 24 and radio station RFI – and culture channel Arte will be forced to find additional savings to those already provisioned.

According to Le Monde, France Télévisions is likely to be asked to make savings in the order of €50 million, while Radio France will have to save €20 millions. Arte will be asked to save €5 million, while France Médias Monde will also be asked to make cuts in the order of several millions of euros.

France Télévisions has already had significant cuts imposed on it dating from 2012, when then director-general Rémy Pflimlin was told to find savings to the tune of €300 million.

Current director-general Delphine Ernotte has set out ambitious plans to launch new services, including a subscription video-on-demand service and new regional services, and invest in an increased volume of original content, while coping with the impact of cost savings imposed earlier.