The international partners of the TV5 Monde channel, who are meeting in Ottawa at the weekend, are preparing a response to Paris’s reorganisation of its foreign broadcasting. Yesterday, the French government appointed Alain de Pouzilhac, chairman and managing director of France 24, with the task of creating a holding company called France Monde. The new entity should bring France 24, Radio France Internationale and TV5Monde under one single umbrella.
The international partners are Television Suisse Romande (TSR) from Switzerland, RTFB from Belgium and Télé-Québec and Radio Canada from Canada, They fear TV5 will become “the voice of France” rather than an international francophone broadcaster. In a statement a spokesperson for President Sarkozy emphasised that “the multilateral character will be respected and preserved”.
