FRANCE / The public news channel will be called France Info

On July 11^th Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, Mathieu Gallet, Marie-Christine Saragosse and Laurent Vallet, respectively heads of France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and INA, unveiled the name of the future public news channel: France Info.

At the same time they showed the press the studios, the logo and the visual and sound identity the channel will transmit as from September 1^st at 6:00pm on channel 27 of DTT.

In a statement to the staff of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte-Cunci described the France Info project as “a unique brand for a global media, present in every form of communication available to the public and meeting all its uses: TV, radio and digital, be it web, apps or social networks.”

France Info will be the fourth 24-hour news channel available free on French DTT after BFM TV, iTV and LCI. The channel will have 176 employees and transmit between 6am and midnight (overnight, it will take the signal from France 24).

In September France Télévisions’ internet news portal, France TV Info, launched in 2011 and bringing together 10 million viewers a month, will become a web platform as part of France Info.

According to Le Monde, France Télévisions is investing €15 million a year and Radio France €3.5 million in this news channel project to which all public media groups will contribute their resources.

In recent months, journalists’ unions at France Televisions and Radio France have repeatedly expressed concerns about the new channel. On June 8^th reporters from France 2, France 3, France TV Info and France Info (Radio France’s radio channel) issued a statement saying the project is “not viable in its present form.”

Sources : Le Monde, Le Figaro, Huffington Post, L’Express, communiqué