French public children's television channel
Television channel
France 4
(
pronounced
[f???s
kat?]
) is a French
free-to-air
television channel owned by
France Televisions
, focused on children's programming. The colour of
France 4
is purple.
Originally launched as
Festival
in 1996, the channel took its current name in 2005 when it became a free channel. The channel targets young audiences, and children during the day. In 2016, France 4 was refocused on family programming.
History
[
edit
]
Festival (1996?2005)
[
edit
]
On 24 June 1996, France Television established
Festival
, a satellite channel for the
TPS
satellite service, which France Television co-owned at the time. Festival offered a selection of films and television series, many of them previously seen on France 2, France 3 and
Arte
.
France 4 (2001?present)
[
edit
]
In 2001, when the French
digital terrestrial television
system was in its developmental stage, the socialist government of
Lionel Jospin
asked the president of France Televisions to consider a bouquet of public channels to be broadcast digitally, so that the public broadcaster could have involvement in this project. France Televisions proposed the creation of three new channels: "France 1", "France 4" and "France 6", an all-news channel, a channel dedicated to the regions, and a channel featuring repeat broadcasts of France 2 and France 3.
Eventually, France Televisions would have four digital channels besides France 2 and France 3, with three of them occupying existing channels:
France 5
(formerly La Cinquieme), Arte, and La Chaine Parlementaire (a legislative channel); France 5 and Arte would switch from a combined service to two separate 24-hour services in the spring of 2005. France Televisions thus only had space for one more new channel. The group eventually proposes the existing "Festival" to be the "new" channel. On 23 October 2002, the
Audiovisual Superior Council
authorised Festival to begin broadcasting in digital. France Televisions planned for Festival to be renamed "France 8" (as it would have been the eighth television network in France) or "France Prime", but opted instead for
France 4
after being allocated to channel 14. The newly created France 4 proposed to present a variety of entertainment, sports, fiction, cinema and series.
In July 2009, France 4 began broadcasting in
16:9
. On 6 October 2011, France 4 launched its HD feed.
On 19 December 2009, France Televisions launched Ludo, a new unique children's brand, to merge all former blocks Toowam (
France 3
),
Les Zouzous
(
France 5
, for preschoolers) and KD2A (
France 2
, the channel ceased to broadcast children shows). Ludo was broadcast on France 3 (focusing on generalist children's shows), France 5 (for preschoolers) and France 4 focused on more teenagers programs like
6teen
, live-action shows and action shows, and broadcasts at middays and preevenings. Due to bad ratings, Ludo was removed from France 5 and France 4 on 25 June 2011: on France 5, it became Zouzous, and on France 4, the children's shows became broadcast without a branded block.
France 4 continued to broadcast cartoons only at mornings, and starting September 2013 until midday. These cartoons continued to target a teenager audience, with action shows (
Code Lyoko
,
Wakfu
, DC and Marvel cartoons), and sometimes more adult shows like
Mad
and
Crash Canyon
.
Reconversion to a hybrid channel (2014)
[
edit
]
On 31 March 2014, France 4 got a rebrand and started to timeshare most of its daily time with the Ludo and Zouzous blocks for children.
In evenings, it targeted a young adult audience, but in 2016, France 4 was refocused on family.
[1]
Closure plan
[
edit
]
In June 2018, a proposal was issued to shut down France 4 as part of planned reforms of France Televisions, with programming dispersed to France 3, France 5 and online platforms. The proposal was criticised by France's animation industry.
[2]
Okoo
[
fr
]
was launched on 9 December 2019 as the new child brand of France Televisions, a programming block broadcast all day on France 4 and as a separate online on-demand service.
[3]
Programming and content for teens and young adults is instead available through
France.tv Slash
.
France 4 was originally planned to close on 9 August 2020, one day after the initially planned date for the closing ceremony of the
2020 Summer Olympics
.
[4]
However, in July 2020, just days before its planned closure, the French Government announced that the channel would continue to broadcast for another 12 months, whilst also pushing back the closure of
France O
by a month, as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic
, which
delayed the games
to July 2021. France 4 carried school programming during the pandemic, which showed the utility of the channel.
From September 2020, the channel moved from being largely a children's entertainment channel, adding more educational programming for children and parents.
[5]
In January 2021, a report entitled "mission flash" was submitted to the National Assembly by two deputies in favor of safeguarding France 4,
Beatrice Piron
(LREM) and
Maxime Minot
(LR), who were charged with studying the offer for young people on public service television.
[1]
This report judges that "a channel dedicated to youth is a valuable asset for public television" and takes up all the arguments of those who support the maintenance of France 4.
[6]
From 3 May 2021, France 4 starts timesharing with
Culturebox
[
fr
]
, reducing the air time from 5:00am to 8:15pm. On the 18th that same month, French president Emmanuel Macron announced that France 4 will continue airing and will not close down as originally planned.
Audience share
[
edit
]
|
January
|
February
|
March
|
April
|
May
|
June
|
July
|
August
|
September
|
October
|
November
|
December
|
Annual average
|
2007
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
0.4%
|
0.5%
|
0.5%
|
0.6%
|
0.5%
|
0.4%
|
0.5%
|
0.6%
|
0.4%
|
2008
|
0.6%
|
0.6%
|
0.7%
|
0.8%
|
0.9%
|
0.8%
|
0.9%
|
0.9%
|
0.9%
|
1.1%
|
1.1%
|
1.1%
|
0.9%
|
2009
|
1.0%
|
1.0%
|
1.0%
|
1.0%
|
1.1%
|
1.0%
|
1.0%
|
1.0%
|
1.0%
|
1.2%
|
1.2%
|
1.3%
|
1.1%
|
2010
|
1.4%
|
1.4%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.5%
|
1.5%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.8%
|
1.6%
|
2011
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.8%
|
1.8%
|
2.0%
|
2.1%
|
2.0%
|
2.1%
|
2.0%
|
1.9%
|
2.0%
|
2.3%
|
2.0%
|
2012
|
2.3%
|
2.2%
|
2.0%
|
2.0%
|
2.3%
|
2.2%
|
2.0%
|
2.2%
|
2.1%
|
2.0%
|
2.0%
|
1.9%
|
2.1%
|
2013
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
2.0%
|
1.9%
|
1.8%
|
1.8%
|
1.7%
|
1.9%
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.8%
|
2014
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.5%
|
1.6%
|
1.5%
|
1.6%
|
2.1%
|
1.6%
|
1.5%
|
1.3%
|
1.4%
|
1.6%
|
2015
|
1.5%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.8%
|
1.8%
|
1.8%
|
1.9%
|
1.6%
|
1.9%
|
1.7%
|
2016
|
1.9%
|
1.9%
|
1.9%
|
2.0%
|
2.0%
|
1.7%
|
2.0%
|
2.1%
|
1.8%
|
2.0%
|
1.8%
|
1.9%
|
1.9%
|
2017
|
1.9%
|
1.8%
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.8%
|
2.0%
|
2.1%
|
1.9%
|
1.8%
|
1.7%
|
1.5%
|
1.5%
|
1.8%
|
2018
|
1.7%
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.8%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.4%
|
1.5%
|
1.6%
|
2019
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.7%
|
1.6%
|
1.5%
|
1.6%
|
2020
|
1.6%
|
1.4%
|
1.3%
|
1.2%
|
1,1%
|
1,1%
|
1,3%
|
1,3%
|
1,1%
|
1,0%
|
0,8%
|
0,9%
|
1,2%
|
Visual identity
[
edit
]
Logos
[
edit
]
-
Logo of Festival from 2000 to 2005
-
Logo of France 4 from 2005 to 2008
-
Logo of France 4 from 2008 to 2011 and 2014 to 2018, also used as a secondary logo from 2011 to 2014
-
2014 version used from 2014 to 2018
-
Logo of France 4 from September 2011 to April 2014
-
Logo of France 4 HD from 2011 to 2018
-
Logo of France 4 from 2018
-
On-screen logo of France 4 from 2018
Slogans
[
edit
]
- 1996: "La chaine des films de prestige"
- 2005: "Le plaisir avant tout"
- 2011: "Elle n'a pas fini de vous surprendre"
- 2011: "Stimulant sans aromes artificiels"
- October 2012: "L'esprit positif"
- 2014: "Ca dechaine"
Culturebox
[
edit
]
Television channel
Culturebox
is an online brand of
France Televisions
, focusing on cultural programming, including the arts, documentaries, cinema and music.
[7]
Since 3 May 2021, it has operated as a
programming block
, timesharing with France 4, each day from around 8pm until 5am the next day.
Among other things, Culturebox has broadcast the semi-finals of the
Eurovision Song Contest
since
2021
.
[8]
The average number of viewers of the channel between February and April 2021 has been estimated at 25.6 million a month.
[9]
Brand history
[
edit
]
Culturebox was initially launched as a website in October 2008 by France 3 as a cultural platform,
[10]
offering on the internet a selection of subjects broadcast on the channel's national and regional news editions. On 19 June 2013, the website became the cultural platform of the France Televisions group, changing its content to offering shows (theatre plays & concerts); some of which were broadcast live.
[11]
In 2016, following the launch of the television channel
France Info
, a program devoted to cultural news was launched under the name of Culturebox, and presented by
Leila Kaddour-Boudadi
[
fr
]
.
[12]
Broadcast
[
edit
]
On 1 February 2021 at 8:35pm,
[13]
Culturebox was launched as a separate channel in
mainland France
taking the EPG position of
France O
, closed a few months before. The channel was available on channel 19 in terrestrial in mainland France only. France 4 and France Info were downgraded to SD to make room on the multiplex.
[14]
After this initial run ended, the
Minister of Culture
announced an extension of the channel as a time-share during the evenings on France 4, which returned to HD on terrestrial.
[15]
[16]
Culturebox has been shown each evening, since 3 May 2021.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Sitbon, Prescilia (2016-04-19).
"Tiphaine DE RAGUENEL (France 4) : "Creer des passerelles entre l'offre de journee et l'offre en soiree est l'une des priorites"
"
.
media+
(in French)
. Retrieved
2021-02-09
.
- ^
Keslassy, Elsa (2018-06-06).
"French Animation Industry Dismayed by Proposed Broadcasting Reforms"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
2018-09-12
.
- ^
Nathan Cocquempot (5 December 2019).
"Okoo, une plate-forme jeunesse pour remplacer France 4"
.
Le Monde
.
.
- ^
"France 4 et France O fermeront le 9 aout prochain"
.
ozap.com
. 3 January 2020.
- ^
"France 4 uses delayed closure to keep commissioning"
.
- ^
"Des deputes defendent France 4, pourtant vouee a disparaitre"
.
Le Monde.fr
(in French). 2021-01-27
. Retrieved
2021-02-09
.
- ^
"French public TV station launches channel to boost struggling culture sector"
.
RFI
. 2021-02-02.
Archived
from the original on 2 February 2021
. Retrieved
2021-02-02
.
- ^
"FRANCE 2022 : Stephane Bern et Laurence Boccolini reconduits pour Eurovision France"
.
Eurovision-fr.net
(in French). 26 July 2021
. Retrieved
26 July
2021
.
- ^
"Pourquoi Culturebox, chaine ephemere, est prolongee"
.
Le Progres
(in French). 6 May 2021
. Retrieved
22 October
2021
.
- ^
Leroy, Guillaume (October 20, 2008).
"France 3 lance sa Culturebox sur le Web"
.
Tele 2 semaines
.
- ^
"Culturebox: la nouvelle plateforme numerique de France Televisions"
.
LExpress.fr
. June 20, 2013.
- ^
"video : Bande-annonce Culturebox - franceinfo (2016)"
.
medias.lenodal.com
.
- ^
"La chaine Culturebox lancee lundi sur le canal 19"
.
ladepeche.fr
. Retrieved
2021-01-27
.
- ^
"(MaJ) Concernant la diffusion de la chaine ephemere " Culturebox " en Outre-Mer !"
.
ActuMedias Outre-Mer
. Retrieved
2021-01-28
.
.
- ^
"Covid-19 : la chaine Culturebox, creee pour aider la culture, est prolongee jusqu'en aout"
.
Franceinfo
(in French). 2021-04-17
. Retrieved
2021-04-17
.
- ^
"Culturebox : la chaine ephemere de France Televisions qui soutient la culture est prolongee"
.
service-public.fr
(in French). 2021-04-22
. Retrieved
2021-04-28
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
France 4
.
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Main channels
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Regional channels
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Internet
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Partnerships
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