France 4

France 4 (pronounced [fʁɑ̃s katʁ]) is a French free-to-air television channel owned by France Télévisions, focused on children's programming and sport. The colour of France 4 is purple.

France 4
CountryFrance
Slogan4 fois plus ensemble
Programming
Language(s)French
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerFrance Télévisions
Sister channelsFrance 2
France 3
France 5
History
Launched31 March 2005 (2005-03-31)
Former namesFestival (1996-2005)
Links
Websitewww.france4.fr
Availability
Terrestrial
TNTChannel 14
TNT in Overseas FranceChannel 4 or 5 or 6
Cable
Ziggo (Netherlands)TV Française Ziggo App Channel 5 (HD)
Telenet (Belgium)Channel 27 (Wallonia & Brussels)
Channel 153 (Flanders)
VOO (Belgium)Channel 16
UPC SwitzerlandChannel 6 (Romandy)
Channel 306 (Deutschswizz)
Channel 506 (Ticino)
Net+ (Switzerland)Channel 6
SFR (Luxembourg)Channel 43
Vodafone (Germany)Channel 687
Satellite
Canal+Channel 148
TNTSAT
Fransat
Bis Télévisions		Channel 14
TélésatChannel 13
Canal+ RéunionChannel 39
Canal+ Calédonie
Canal+ Caraïbes		Channel 14
Platforma Canal+Channel 234
IPTV
French IPTVChannel 14
Proximus TVChannel 22 (Wallonia & Brussels)
Channel 272 (Flanders)
ScarletChannel 20 (Wallonia & Brussels)
Channel 245 (Flanders)
SunriseChannel 6
Meo (Portugal)Channel 260
FL1 (Liechtenstein)Channel 145
SFR RéunionChannel 6

Originally launched as Festival in 1996, the channel took its final name in 2005 when it became a free channel. The channel targeted young audience, and children during the day. In 2016, France 4 was refocused on family.

History

Festival (1996-2005)

On 24 June 1996, France Télévision established Festival, a satellite channel for the TPS satellite service, which France Télévision co-owned at the time. Festival offered a selection of films and television series, many of them previously seen on France 2, France 3 and Arte.

France 4 (2001-present)

In 2001, when the French digital terrestrial television system was in its developmental stage, the socialist government of Lionel Jospin asked the president of France Télévisions to consider a bouquet of public channels to be broadcast digitally, so that the public broadcaster could have involvement in this project. France Télévisions proposed the creation of three new channels: "France 1", "France 4" and "France 6", an all-news channel, a channel dedicated to the regions, and a channel featuring repeat broadcasts of France 2 and France 3.

Eventually, France Télévisions would have four digital channels besides France 2 and France 3, with three of them occupying existing channels: France 5 (formerly La Cinq), Arte, and La Chaîne Parlementaire (a legislative channel); France 5 and Arte would switch from a combined service to two separate 24-hour services in the spring of 2005. France Télévisions thus only had space for one more new channel. The group eventually proposes the existing "Festival" to be the "new" channel. On 23 October 2002, the Audiovisual Superior Council authorised Festival to begin broadcasting in digital. France Télévisions planned for Festival to be renamed "France 8" (as it would have been the eighth television network in France) or "France Prime", but opted instead for France 4 after being allocated to channel 14. The newly created France 4 proposed to present a variety of entertainment, sports, fiction, cinema and series.

In July 2009, France 4 began broadcasting in 16:9. On 6 October 2011, France 4 launched its HD feed.

On 19 December 2009, France Télévisions launched Ludo, a new unique children brand, to merge all former blocks Toowam (France 3), Zouzous (France 5, for preschoolers) and KD2A (France 2, the channel ceased to broadcast children shows). Ludo was broadcast on France 3 (focusing on generalist children shows), France 5 (for preschoolers) and France 4 focused on more teenagers programs like 6teen, live-action shows and action shows, and broadcasts at middays and preevenings. Due to bad ratings, Ludo was removed from France 5 and France 4 on 25 June 2011: on France 5, it became Zouzous, and on France 4, the children shows became broadcast without a branded block.

France 4 continued to broadcast cartoons only at mornings, and starting September 2013 until midday. These cartoons continued to target a teenager audience, with action shows (Code Lyoko, Wakfu, DC and Marvel cartoons), and sometimes more adult shows like Mad and Crash Canyon.

Reconversion to a hybrid channel (2014)

On 31 March 2014, France 4 got a rebrand and started to timeshare most of its daily time with the Ludo and Zouzous blocks for childrens.

In evenings, it targeted a young adult audience, but in 2016, France 4 was refocused on family.[1]

Closure plan

In June 2018, a proposal was issued to shut down France 4 as part of planned reforms of France Télévisions, with programming dispersed to France 5 and online platforms. The proposal was criticised by France's animation industry.[2]

Okoo was launched on 9 November 2019 as the new child brand of France Télévisions, a programming block broadcast all day on France 4 and a separate online on-demand service. Programming and content for teens and young adults is instead available through France.tv Slash.

France 4 was originally planned to close on 9 August 2020, one day after the initially planned date for the closing ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics.[3] However, in July 2020, just days before its planned closure, the French Government announced that the channel would continue to broadcast for another 12 months, whilst also pushing back the closure of France Ô by a month, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the games to July 2021. France 4 carried school programming during the pandemic, which showed the utility of the channel.

From September 2020, the channel moved from being largely a children's entertainment channel, adding more educational programming for children and parents.[4]

In January 2021, a report entitled "mission flash" was submitted to the National Assembly by two deputies in favor of safeguarding France 4, Béatrice Piron (LREM) and Maxime Minot (LR), who were charged with studying the offer for young people on public service television.[1] This report judges that "a channel dedicated to youth is a valuable asset for public television" and takes up all the arguments of those who support the maintenance of France 4.[5]

Audience share
January February March April May June July August September October November December Annual average
2007----0.4%0.5%0.5%0.6%0.5%0.4%0.5%0.6%0.4%
20080.6%0.6%0.7%0.8%0.9%0.8%0.9%0.9%0.9%1.1%1.1%1.1% 0.9%
20091.0%1.0%1.0%1.0%1.1%1.0%1.0%1.0%1.0%1.2%1.2%1.3% 1.1%
20101.4%1.4%1.6%1.7%1.7%1.6%1.5%1.5%1.6%1.7%1.7%1.8% 1.6%
20111.7%1.7%1.8%1.8%2.0%2.1%2.0%2.1%2.0%1.9%2.0%2.3% 2.0%
20122.3%2.2%2.0%2.0%2.3%2.2%2.0%2.2%2.1%2.0%2.0%1.9% 2.1%
20131.7%1.6%1.6%1.7%2.0%1.9%1.8%1.8%1.7%1.9%1.7%1.7% 1.8%
20141.7%1.6%1.7%1.5%1.6%1.5%1.6%2.1%1.6%1.5%1.3%1.4% 1.6%
20151.5%1.6%1.6%1.7%1.7%1.7%1.8%1.8%1.8%1.9%1.6%1.9% 1.7%
20161.9%1.9%1.9%2.0%2.0%1.7%2.0%2.1%1.8%2.0%1.8%1.9% 1.9%
20171.9%1.8%1.7%1.7%1.8%2.0%2.1%1.9%1.8%1.7%1.5%1.5% 1.8%
20181.7%1.7%1.6%1.6%1.7%1.6%1.6%1.8%1.6%1.6%1.4%1.5% 1.6%
20191.7%1.6%1.6%1.6%1.7%1.6%1.6%1.7%1.6%1.7%1.6%1.5%1.6%
20201.6%1.4%1.3%1.2%1,1% 1,1% 1,3% 1,3% 1,1% 1,0% 0,8% 0,9% 1,2%

Visual identity

Logos
  • Logo of Festival from 2000 to 2005
  • Logo of France 4 from 2005 to 2008
  • Logo of France 4 from 2008 to 2011
  • Logo of France 4 from September 2011 to April 2014
  • Logo of France 4 from 2014 to 2018
  • Logo of France 4 HD from 2008 to 2011
  • Logo of France 4 from 2018
  • Alternative logo of France 4 from 2018

Slogans
  • 1996: "La chaîne des films de prestige"
  • 2005: "Le plaisir avant tout"
  • 2011: "Elle n'a pas fini de vous surprendre"
  • 2011: "Stimulant sans arômes artificiels"
  • October 2012: "L'esprit positif"
  • 2014: "Ça déchaîne"

See also

References
  1. Sitbon, Prescilia (2016-04-19). "Tiphaine DE RAGUENEL (France 4) : «Créer des passerelles entre l'offre de journée et l'offre en soirée est l'une des priorités»". média+ (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  2. Keslassy, Elsa (2018-06-06). "French Animation Industry Dismayed by Proposed Broadcasting Reforms". Variety. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  3. "France 4 et France Ô fermeront le 9 août prochain". ozap.com.
  4. "France 4 uses delayed closure to keep commissioning".
  5. "Des députés défendent France 4, pourtant vouée à disparaître". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
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