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France 5

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France 5 (French: [fʁɑ̃s sɛ̃k]) is a French free-to-air public television channel, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring nonfiction and educational programming, the channel's motto is la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir (the knowledge network).

France 5
Logo used since 2018
CountryFrance
HeadquartersParis, France
Programming
LanguageFrench
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerFrance Télévisions
Sister channelsFrance 2
France 3
France 4
France Info
History
Launched13 December 1994; 31 years ago (1994-12-13)
FounderClaude Lemoine
Jean-Marie Cavada
ReplacedLa Cinq (1986–1992)
Former namesLa Cinquième (1994–2002)
Links
Websitewww.france.tv/france-5
Availability
Terrestrial
TNTChannel 5
TNT in Overseas FranceChannel 5 or 6 or 7
Streaming media
FilmOnWatch live

In contrast to the group's two main channels, France 2 and France 3, France 5 concentrates almost exclusively on factual programming, documentaries, and discussions – 3,925 hours of documentaries were broadcast in 2003[1] – with fiction confined to one primetime slot of around two hours' duration on Monday evenings.

France 5 airs 24 hours a day. Earlier – before completion of the switchover to digital broadcasting on 29 November 2011 – the channel's analogue frequencies had carried the programmes of the Franco-German cultural channel Arte between 19.00 each evening and 3.00 the following morning.

History

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1992–1994: Pre-launch operations

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The history of the frequencies that are currently occupied by France 5 dates back to 20 November 1985, when Italian commercial television magnate Silvio Berlusconi and the Chargeurs Réunis group of Jérôme Seydoux and Christophe Riboud were granted an 18-year concession to operate the commercial television network La Cinq, which began operations on 20 February 1986. La Cinq operated at a financial loss throughout its first four years of its operations under Chargeurs Réunis and Robert Hersant.[2] In October 1990, Hersant's share of the channel was sold to Hachette, a group that was led by Jean-Luc Lagardère and Yves Sabouret; both of them promised to save the network.[3] Lagardère commissioned additional programmes for La Cinq instead of trying to reduce costs and make up for the deficit that it inherited, causing the channel's all-time debt to worsen to 3.5 billion francs.

On 3 January 1992, La Cinq was placed into legal redress due to Lagardère's continued inability to repay the channel's entire debt. Berlusconi and politician Charles Pasqua announced plans to rescue the channel later that month,[4][5][6] but the plans were withdrawn on 24 March under pressure from the French government. The tribunal de commerce of Paris subsequently announced on 3 April that La Cinq would be shut down and its assets liquidated effective 12 April at midnight CET. La Cinq would shut down as planned on 12 April 1992 at midnight following a special final programme commemorating the channel's six-year history.

Following the closure of La Cinq, the Bérégovoy government announced on 23 April 1992 that the French feed of the Franco-German public television service Arte (which was formerly known as La Sept) would occupy a portion of the frequencies that were formerly occupied by La Cinq beginning on 28 September, with the 19:00 to 1:00 timeslot being reserved for the service. On 1 February 1994, the Balladur government created La Télévision du savoir, de la formation et de l'emploi, which planned to launch a public television service that would occupy the timeslot that was not used by Arte. Jean-Marie Cavada and Michel Serres presided over the organization's foundation.[7][8] The service ran test broadcasts between 28 March and 17 April under the name Télé emploi (Teleworking), with programmes airing from 7:30 to 19:00. Following the conclusion of the test broadcasts, communications minister Nicolas Sarkozy created a groupement d'intérêt économique in October 1994 that would allow Arte and La Télévision du savoir, de la formation et de l'emploi, the latter of which would now be known as La Cinquième, to provide shared distribution of their programmes across France.[9]

1994–2002: Launch as La Cinquième

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La Cinquième formally launched operations on 13 December 1994 at 18:00 CET with a special programme from the Louvre Museum in Paris that was attended by prime minister Édouard Balladur and 500 children from around France. The channel initially aired a mix of small educational programmes between 7:00 and 19:00 daily.[10]

In November 1995, the channel began airing an expanded schedule for cable subscribers in the Paris area with programmes ending at midnight.[11] Subscribers to the Canalsat and TPS satellite services began receiving the expanded schedule nationally in January 1998.[12] La Cinquième was given permission to expand its cable and satellite schedule to 20 hours per day (7:00 to 3:00) in November 1999, with terrestrial transmissions still only permitted between 7:00 and 19:00.[13]

2002–present: Relaunch as France 5

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La Cinquième was integrated in the France Télévisions public holding in 2000, which gathered France 2 and France 3; it would be eventually rebranded as France 5 on 7 January 2002. France 5 broadcasting hours have been extended to 24 hours a day, initially available only on cable and satellite, and since spring 2005 on air within the new digital broadcasting multiplex TNT "R1" network that supports all national public TV channels. Analogue transmitters were switched off in 2011.

Logos

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Subsidiary

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  • La Cinquième Développement – former company, active from 1995 to 2001, wholly owned subsidiary of La Cinquième, responsible for managing telephone services, Minitel, Internet, Teletext, and market a selection of programs of the chain on all media. These services were taken over by France Télévisions subsidiaries at the end of 2000.

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Les 10 ans du succès pour France 5". Toutelatele (in French). 13 December 2004. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  2. ↑ Agence France-Presse (27 September 1989). "Télé-Métropole reste actionnaire de la cinquième chaîne de télévision française". La Presse. p. B8.
  3. ↑ Tomaszewski, Rémi (2001). Les politiques audiovisuelles en France, Documentation française (in French). p. 288.
  4. ↑ "L'avenir de la chaîne privée MM. Pasqua et Berlusconi au chevet de La Cinq". lemonde.fr. 17 January 1992.
  5. ↑ "En réponse à M. Berlusconi et à l'opposition Le gouvernement se défend d'avoir contribué à mettre La Cinq en péril". lemonde.fr (in French). 27 March 1992.
  6. ↑ "L'avenir de La Cinq M. Pasqua créera une société d'économie mixte pour reprendre la chaîne". lemonde.fr (in French). 25 January 1991.
  7. ↑ "Chronologie de la politique de l'audiovisuel". Vie-publique.fr (in French). 7 July 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "La Cinquième, la chaîne de la connaissance". Institut national de l'audiovisuel (in French). 4 December 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  9. ↑ Vulser, Nicole (19 October 1994). "La Sept-Arte accélère sa diversification". Les Échos (in French). Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "Inauguration de La Cinquième au 19/20 de France 3". INA (in French). 13 December 1994. Retrieved 4 October 2016..
  11. ↑ "Projet de loi de finances pour 1996 - La Cinquième". Senate (France) (in French). 5 December 1995. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  12. ↑ "Bilan de La Cinquième - 2000" (PDF). Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (in French). Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  13. ↑ "La Cinquième : nouveaux horaires sur le câble". Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel. 23 November 1999. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
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