“What concerns us, at the moment, is to know how we are going to pass 2023 and 2024. While the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, announced on 26 September an increase of 114 million euros in the public audiovisual budget (France Télévisions, Radio France, Arte, France Médias Monde, Institut national audiovisual) to bring it to 3.8 billion euros in 2023, this confidence from a France Télévisions executive shows how much this financial boost, certainly welcome, looks like a trompe-l’oeil .
In the amount of 51 million for the public television group (for a total budget of 2.431 billion), 35 million for Radio France (623.4 million in total), and 10.6 million for Arte (303.6 million ), this additional windfall is in fact mainly supposed to compensate for the effects of inflation. “Except that the assessments were made well before the summer”assures a leader, for whom the account will not be there.
Auditioned Wednesday, October 26 before the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, Delphine Ernotte did not beat around the bush: the boss of France Télévisions must “find 45 million” if she wants the accounts of the company, in balance since 2015 and her arrival at her head, to remain in the green – they should still be in 2022.
Unless you fall back on the programs offered to viewers… which is already the case: between 2017 and 2022, the annual sum devoted to them fell from 1.75 billion euros to 921 million, a drop of 154 million. Without excessive advertising, the group has already reduced its spending on streaming programs (games and entertainment), increased the rebroadcast rate of series on France 2 from zero to more than 25%.
“A renewed investment capacity” at Arte
After having stopped buying American series, France Télévisions plans to reduce its purchases of European series. “With a constant mission, we cannot continue to reduce staff and budgets”, warned the leader, who has already sent 900 “full-time equivalents” to reduce the company’s workforce to 9,000 employees.
A few days earlier, on October 12, received in the same enclosure, the president of Radio France had made similar remarks to the deputies. After being satisfied with her lot (“the endowment granted to us is going in the right direction », and the effects of inflation will be lessened), Sibyle Veil had announced a “extremely fragile financial situation”. “We will try to keep our heads above water, but we will have to make editorial choices”, she warned.
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