Market Evolution : History

Hello everyone, today we will talk about the history of the french television market so do not zap!

This market is affected by three main factors, the technological innovations, the privatization of some state owned activities and finally the merges of existing actors to create new strong entities.

We could go back to the beginning of the 20th century if we would like to analyze the roots of the French television market but it is more relevant (and less boring) in this blog to start the history from 1974, when the law imposing the division of the ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion télévision française) in 7 independent divisions was voted. Before this date, everything was manage by the state and one unique entity, the ORTF.

The chronology below shows the most important steps of the French television market evolution since 1974:

1974: law dividing ORTF in seven independent entities : Radio France, TF1, Antenne 2, FR3, TDF, the SFP, l'INA
1984: Creation of the french speaking channel TV5
1984: Creation of the first private and paying channel Canal+
1985: Creation of other new channel like TV5 Monde, TMC, RTL9 etc.Those channel will be available both through cable and satellite
1986: Creation of the first commercial channel named “la cinq” owned by Sylvio Berlusconi
1986: Creation of the first french musical channel TV6
1987: Privatization of TF1, 50% of the company is now owned by Bouygues
1987: Creation of M6
1992: Creation of « France Télévision”. Antenne 2 is now called France 2 and FR3=>France 3
1992: Creation of Arte
2005: Creation of the “TNT” (television numerique terrestre) with first 8 new channels Direct 8 (now D8), W9, TMC, NT1, NRJ 12, Public Sénat and France 4. Then new channels were created : BFM TV, I-Télé, Europe 2 TV (now Virgin 17, Direct Star now D17), Gulli and France Ô
2009: End of TV commercials on public channel between 8pm and 6am
2009: End of the analogical television; Beginning of the numeric television era
2012: creation of 6 new channels

To be continued... 

BY NICOLAS ROUSSEAUX