The three main French commercial broadcasters are protesting against a new proposed tax on them that will serve to finance the public broadcasting system. The government plans to (partly) abolish commercial airtime on the channels of the public broadcaster France Television, but wants to slap a tax on the commercial channels in order to compensate for the loss of income.
The three broadcasters, TF1, M6 and Canal+, joined together in the ACP (Association des Chaînes Privées), claim the measure comes at a time “when the audio-visual sector is in deep upheaval, facing technological and economic challenges, forcing us to strongly invest.” The new tax is part of proposal of the Copé Commission, which studies the future of public broadcasting in the country at the request of the government.
The ACP is particularly worried by the fact the the estimated loss of income by France Television is grossly overstated by the broadcaster: “the figures selected reflect not the real advertising turnover of France Televisions, but the budgetary amounts voted by the Parliament. It is unacceptable that the private broadcasters have to finance the competition of a public sector.” The private stations also claim there are no guarantees that the public broadcasters will try and trim costs.
