Paris (AFP)

The future of France 4 will be decided "in a few days", assured Thursday the new Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, referring to the possibility of a one-year suspension for the public channel supposed to disappear in early August or even a cancellation of its closing.

"Can the missions that have been carried out by France 4 be carried out in another way? I'm not sure," she said on France Inter.

"Does this imply an extension of one year? Or does it imply going back on the France 4 judgment?", She asked, promising a "precise answer (...) in a few days".

The audiovisual reform bill, drawn up by his predecessor Franck Riester, provided in particular for the stop of the TNT signal from France 4 and France Ô on August 9.

But the government opened the door in April to a possible extension of France 4, the youth channel of France Televisions, whose educational programs during the confinement were welcomed.

"I want to salute the extraordinary job done by France 4," confirmed Roselyne Bachelot.

On the other hand, concerning France Ô, "I believe that the question is resolved", she estimated: "We had arrived at a sort of confinement of the Overseas in the public audiovisual service and the Overseas must participate in the 'whole of the audio-visual one ".

Asked about the future of the other measures in the audiovisual reform bill, she did not decide, saying she was waiting "to have parliamentary time". "The legislative calendar will be completely occupied by the recovery plan, I think it will be difficult to find time," said the minister.

This project provides in particular for the creation of a new regulator, Arcom (merger of Hadopi and CSA), and must orchestrate the regrouping of the public audiovisual sector (France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and Ina) within a joint holding company, France Médias. Sources close to the case had however told AFP in mid-June that the latter component, now deemed too heavy and too expensive, could be abandoned.

The government had indicated on June 17 that the broad provisions of the bill would be distributed in several other texts, due to the constraints linked to the post-Covid parliamentary agenda.

© 2020 AFP