It's official: the public broadcasting companies will soon be grouped together in a "BBC à la française" (except TV5Monde and Arte), and the government will withdraw from the CSA the power to appoint their leaders, to confide it to the boards of directors of these companies. The Minister of Culture Franck Riester detailed in an interview in Figaro to appear on Wednesday the future organization of the public service of the audio-visual one, the last part of the vast law reforming the audio-visual one of which he has ginted the measurements since the beginning of the month. As indicated by concordant sources to AFP in early September, the government, which wants a more efficient and agile public service in the face of the digital revolutions, opted for the solution of a regrouping of the companies of the sector within the same entity, a holding called "France Médias".
Arte and TV5 retain their independence
"The bill I am proposing is the creation of a parent company at the head of a group called France Médias.The parent company will hold 100% of the capital of the daughter companies: France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde (which RFI and France 24, editor's note) and the Ina (National Audiovisual Institute), "said the minister at Le Figaro . This great "meccano" of the audiovisual industry will bring together under one roof separate TVs and radios since the bursting of the ORTF in 1975, but which must increasingly make common cause on many fronts, the creation of the franceinfo info channel and the fight against misinformation to local information, with the launch of morning common to the regional offices of France 3 and France Bleu.
However, as previously reported by AFP, Arte France and TV5 Monde will retain their independence. The two companies, with special status because of international partnerships, "will participate in this dynamic retaining their shareholding and current governance," said Franck Riester. What reassure within Arte, who had asked that his autonomy is respected. This holding, which has been in debate since the beginning of the five-year period, should be created in early 2021, Riester said, and the leaders of the companies concerned will have their mandates extended until the end of 2022, to align themselves with the establishment of this new organization.
The CSA will no longer designate the leaders of the public audiovisual sector
In addition, the bill led by Franck Riester will devote the change in the mode of appointment of leaders of the public broadcasting, currently appointed by the CSA. They will now be chosen by the boards of directors of the companies concerned, including that of France Médias. The Minister assured that, to preserve the independence of the public service, the State will be a minority on the board of directors of France Médias, and the president who will have been appointed will have to be validated. ) by the CSA and the parliamentary committees of Culture. These commissions may exercise a right of veto, "3 / 5th of the votes".
"This is the best system to ensure the appointment of a competent and independent president", without returning to the regime in rigor under the five-year Sarkozy where it is the President of the Republic himself who appointed the boss of France Televisions, pleaded Franck Riester. Finally, the minister announced that the future regulatory authority resulting from the merger between the Higher Audiovisual Council and Hadopi (the agency for combating piracy of online works), which he announced the creation at the beginning of the month, still within the framework of this reform, would be called "the Authority of regulation of the audio-visual and digital communication", and would have for initials the ARCOM.