TF1 is the main national
French
TV channel, controlled by
TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is
Bouygues. TF1's average market share
of 25-35% makes it the most popular domestic network.TF1 is the
largest European television channel by its audience. Flagship shows
include
Star Academy
(
Endemol's international competitor to the
X Factor franchise),
CSI and
House, M.D..
TF1 originally stood for
Télévision Française 1
(
French Television 1).
Since its privatisation in 1987, the abbreviation is no longer expanded, so as to
avoid confusion with the government-owned channel France
Télévisions
.
The channel is part of the
TF1 Group of
mass media companies, which also includes
Eurosport, the largest European sports
network.
Together with France
Télévisions, TF1 co-managed the international French news channel France 24 but has since sold its
share.
TF1 is a
supporter of the Hybrid
Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) innitiative (a consortium of
broadcasting and Internet industry companies including SES Astra
, OpenTV and Institut für
Rundfunktechnik) that is promoting and establishing an open
European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of
broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single
user interface.
Criticism
Some commentators accuse TF1 of being an excessively populist,
commercialised channel. There is a clear emphasis on "light"
entertainment programmes over more serious content, and the
channel's success is sometimes seen as being founded on the
ménagères de moins de 50 ans (
housewives under 50) audience segment. Certainly,
a large proportion of the schedule consists of
gameshows,
sensational documentaries and dubbed versions
of easy-viewing US series (e.g.
Gossip
Girl). The channel's news service is perceived as consisting of
more
celebrity news and
human-interest stories than its
public-sector competitors.
On
April 16th, the employee responsible
for the "Web innovation" department was fired for criticizing the
Hadopi law in a private email (on
February 19th) sent to a Member of
Parliament. The management of TF1 was notified about the e-mail by
the Ministry for Culture and Communication, whom Ministry
Christine Albanel is also one the authors
of the
Hadopi law.
In 2004 Patrick Le Lay, CEO of TF1 made the following statement
about the channel's aims:
"There are many ways to speak about TV, but in a
business perspective, let's be realistic: at the basis, TF1's job
is helping Coca-Cola, for example, to sell
its product.
What we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain
time.
Nothing is more difficult than obtaining this
availability.
This is where permanent change is located.
We must always look out for popular programs, follow
trends, surf on tendencies, in a context in which information is
speeding up, getting manifold and trivialized."
Critics of TF1 also contend that its news coverage is slanted
towards supporting
right-wing politicians — they were in particular accused of
supporting
Édouard Balladur in
the
1995 presidential
elections, and of overstating
crime during
the
2002 electoral
campaign to tilt the balance in favour of former French
president
Jacques Chirac, who
campaigned on a
law and order
platform.
Key figures within TF1 are close friends to some of the most
powerful politicians in France, and the relationship between
Bouygues and the public-sector contracting
system often raises suspicions.
Nicolas
Sarkozy (current president of France) is a frequent guest of
the channel, and is seen as being given an easier ride than on
other networks. Immigration and violence are arguably conflated in
the channel's news programmes. In addition, it is occasionally
alleged that news reports from TF1 tend to ignore issues yielding a
bad light on their parent group (Bouygues), while stressing the
problems of competitors (such as
VINCI).
Such criticism is heavy in the satirical show
Les Guignols de l'info,
broadcast on rival private network
Canal
Plus. However, TF1 now competes in this category with
M6, which was initially a generalist
channel focusing on musical programmes, but now has programming
more resembling TF1 (notably, reality shows that TF1 started
running just after M6 introduced them).
As of 2005/2006, audience share ranged from 30-35%, though
according to 2008 figures they have dropped to 25-27%. Programs
shown on the network are more likely to be taken off the air if
these figures are not met.
Programmes
- Reality Shows now airing:
- These Reality Shows were shown on TF1: Survivor (Koh-Lanta), Fear
Factor (French version) ; Je suis une célébrité,
sortez-moi de là! (French "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me
Out of Here!") ; La Ferme des Célébrités (French "The
Farm" or "Celebrity Farm") ; Greg le Millionaire (French
"Joe Millionaire") ; Marjolaine et les Millionnaires ; Nice
People (French Big Brother) ; 1ère Compagnie (French "Celebrity
Bootcamp") ; Mon Incroyable Fiancé (French "My Big Fat
Obnoxious Fiancé") ; Queer : Cinq Experts dans le Vent
(French "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy") and Le Royaume
(French "The Riket").
- Famous historic programs:
In 2005, TF1 launced TF1Vision, a
video
on demand service.
Trivia
- James Bond villain Le Chiffre uses a
fictional page on the website to keep updated with the daily news.
(Casino
Royale)
- The 1980 jingle for the news report was sampled by Mr Oizo for his song "Yves". The trailer, for Ed Rec
Vol. 3 (the album the track is featured on) also uses clips from
the 1980's-era TF1.
See also
References
- http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/09/229217
-
http://knowfuture.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/hadopi-amendment-138-a-dismissal-for-dissent-and-more-letters/
-
http://torrentfreak.com/tv-exec-fired-for-opposing-anti-piracy-law-090507/
- Patrick Le Lay, in Les dirigeants français et le
changement, 2004, ISBN 2-914119-33-X. French quote: « Il y a
beaucoup de façons de parler de la télévision, mais dans une
perspective business, soyons réaliste: à la base, le métier de TF1,
c'est d'aider Coca-Cola, par exemple, à vendre son produit. Ce que
nous vendons à Coca-Cola, c'est du temps de cerveau humain
disponible. Rien n’est plus difficile que d’obtenir cette
disponibilité. C’est là que se trouve le changement permanent. Il
faut chercher en permanence les programmes qui marchent, suivre les
modes, surfer sur les tendances, dans un contexte où l’information
s’accélère, se multiplie et se banalise.
External links