End clap for France Ô. The Overseas Channel stops broadcasting at midnight this Sunday, August 23. Explanations and reactions.
In a few hours, France Ô will disappear from the audiovisual landscape. At midnight, this Sunday, August 23, the television window of the Overseas Territories in France will close definitively, after a final day of broadcasting at the special program called Ô voir.
The end date for the broadcasts was confirmed a few weeks ago by the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, while France 4 obtained an additional year of broadcasting. During the 2017 presidential campaign, candidate Macron had nevertheless assured that if he was elected, he would choose to maintain France Ô.
A look back at the history of France Ô, born in 2005, with this story by Nathalie Nouzières:
In one press release published Wednesday August 19, The Superior Audiovisual Council confirmed the closure of the channel, and also announced that from September 1, the 1st channels will be broadcast in high definition in the French overseas territories, and franceinfo also in high definition in France . The CSA will also launch in the coming weeks a public consultation in order to collect the opinion of all the interested actors on the possible evolutions of the numbering of the chains of the DTT in metropolitan France and overseas. Other TNT channels will be assigned the numbers of France Ô, then of France 4 when it closes in a year.
Gathering in Paris
The decision to close France Ô is the subject of much criticism, especially among overseas parliamentarians, including the majority. Thus, the LREM deputy of Guadeloupe Olivier Serva believes that “France Ô had an intimate but assiduous audience, there was this showcase to the Overseas, and this opportunity to enhance television newspapers and documentaries“.
An online petition, launched several months ago by the collective “Sauvons France Ô”, has collected more than 104,000 signatures. This Sunday, August 23, the same collective calls for a symbolic gathering at 2:30 p.m., Place du Palais Royal, in Paris. A few dozen people took part in this event, here are some images, shot by Jean-Yves Pautrat:
Monday July 27, 125 personalities had signed a column in the newspaper Liberation to propose solutions in order to keep the chain.
And now ?
The France Ô judgment raises the question of the visibility of overseas territories in France. The management of France Télévisions and the State signed in July 2019 a Pact for the visibility of overseas territories. This pact aims to “sustainably guarantee the presence of overseas territories at the center of the public audiovisual supply“, with quantified objectives set in stone. In this context, in June 2020, the new overseas portal was launched. The overseas news is also present every day on France 3 as well as on France info. Video explanations:
Selection of strong news
Find here a selection of strong overseas news from the past fifteen years, which France Ô viewers have been able to follow:
August 23, a date criticized
On social networks in particular, the date chosen for the judgment of France Ô, August 23, is the subject of many criticisms. August 23 is in fact every year the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
The latest Info
Sunday at 6.30 p.m. (Paris time) a special edition of Infosoir was devoted to the disappearance of the channel. She is to find here:
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