Because of this strike, the music turned full on France info, France Inter or even France Culture instead of the traditional morning shows, while France 2 offered reruns of extracts from Télématin.

Banners also announced the disruption of the antennas of the France 24 and franceinfo news channels and of the latter's website.

The employees of France Télévisions and Radio France, but also of France Médias Monde (France 24, RFI, MCD), Arte and Ina were called to stop work on Tuesday by an inter-union CGT-CFDT-FO-SNJ-SUD-UNSA -CGC-CFTC.

A rally is scheduled for noon in Montparnasse in Paris, for a parade towards the National Assembly, and other actions are planned elsewhere in France.

In Saint-Etienne, nearly thirty employees on strike from France 3 Loire and France Bleu Saint-Etienne Loire, i.e. almost the entire workforce of these two locals, took part in a rally in front of their premises. Tuesday morning.

At the origin of the movement, the desire of the executive to abolish the fee this fall, in favor of a current budget over several years.

This measure was proposed during the presidential campaign by President Emmanuel Macron, under purchasing power.

But for the unions and the strikers, it threatens the financing and independence of public broadcasting.

Amounting to 138 euros in mainland France and 88 euros overseas, the fee only concerns households that have a television: the others do not pay it, even if they watch programs on a computer, tablet or smartphone.

This resource has become all the more strategic since the removal of advertising in the evening and then in children's programs on public service channels.

Merger?

The abolition of the license fee will result in a shortfall of more than 3 billion euros that the State promises to compensate with public broadcasters.

But the strikers believe that the budget for public broadcasting "cannot be decided by the government and subject to the vagaries of the vote on the annual finance laws".

Amounting to 138 euros in mainland France and 88 euros overseas, the audiovisual fee only concerns households that have a television ERIC CABANIS AFP / Archives

"He must have an allocated resource, guaranteeing his economic and political independence as much as possible in terms of information and cultural diversity", according to a union leaflet.

In a report published Monday by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, the economist committed to the left Julia Cagé proposed to establish a new royalty mechanism, inspired by the Nordic countries.

It would be a tax specifically dedicated to the financing of public broadcasting, but variable according to household income.

The end of the fee is included in the package of measures on purchasing power, which must be presented on July 6 in the Council of Ministers, for a review in stride by the deputies and then the senators.

But the result of the June legislative elections and the weakening of the LREM majority make the debates more uncertain.

Beyond the sole question of the license fee, the strikers have been worried about the future of public broadcasting since an LR senatorial report published on June 8 launched the idea of ​​​​a major merger between France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde (RFI and France 24) and Ina.

"This has been a subject in the air for several years. This debate will take place," said the new Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, in the newspaper Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France.

Once fixed "the basic priorities (...), we will discuss the organization. And see if this should be done by a merger or by more flexible methods allowing synergies to be developed", she added. .

© 2022 AFP