At the start of the year again, this seemed only a formality for Delphine Ernotte. The boss of France Télévisions, whose mandate ends on August 22, already appeared re-elected. The government was preparing a major audiovisual law, with the creation of a holding company to oversee all public companies in the sector (France Télé, Radio France, the National Audiovisual Institute, etc.) and to appoint directly its leaders, today designated by the Superior council of audio-visual (CSA).
Pending the establishment of this structure, it was a question of electing a number one of France Televisions for two years. And who else than the outgoing president for this mini-mandate, who does not leave time to do much? Especially that, in a long report, the CSA judged its mandate generally positive.
But the coronavirus pushed the law back to the Greek calendars and completely changed the situation. And it is indeed a five-year mandate that the CSA will assign no later than July 24. One month before the deadline, the candidates are in the starting blocks. And critics are growing on a necessarily contrasting mandate. “Three years ago, everyone was screaming at everything Delphine Ernotte was doing. And it was excessive. Today everyone is ecstatic about his balance sheet, without any reservations. And it's just as caricatural, ”quips an expert in the sector.
The France Info channel launched but little watched
It was one of the flagship projects of Delphine Ernotte's campaign: finally launching this continuous news channel that France Télévisions should always have had. Prouesse, France Info was born on August 31, 2016, a year after the new president took office. Four years later, the chain produced in collaboration with Radio France works, but the general public does not care. Much watched on the Internet, this media is struggling to find its audience on channel 27. With only 0.6% audience share (PDA) between March and May, France Info remains very behind its rivals, BFMTV (3 , 5%), LCI (1.5%) and CNEWS (1.4%). As a result, a new chef was appointed this week. Laurent Guimier, former France Info radio station, with the mission to reverse the trend.
A feminization at all costs
Hunting “for white men over 50” was Delphine Ernotte's other promise. Mission more than accomplished with the successful arrival of Anne-Sophie Lapix at 20 Hours, or Caroline Roux at "C dans l'air". The departures of Patrick Sébastien, William Leymergie, David Pujadas or Julien Lepers were painful, but now parity reigns at France Télévisions. "Our branches must be even more a mirror of the diversity of the French population," breathes the entourage of the current president, of whom this will be one of the key points of her new program.
A profusion of platforms
Okoo for cartoons, Lumni for educational content, Culture Prime, or Slash for "young adults" where the popular web series "Skam" is broadcast, etc. Delphine Ernotte, former CEO of Orange, has multiplied the new platforms. “The public is lost in all these brands. We need more transparency on their audiences and on the budgets allocated, which must be increased… ”regrets, on condition of anonymity, the adviser of one of the candidates. And it's not over: France Télévisions is preparing to launch Salto, a pay platform on the Netflix, back to school, an alliance between public television, TF1 and M6. Another of the major projects in Ernotte's mandate, which took a very long time to implement.
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"For 5 years, they have not created any new significant program except Les Enfants de la Télé, Taratata, or Le Grand Echiquier , and soon Intervilles, " jokes an emblematic host of public service, dismayed by this festival of old resuscitated glories. . "Captain Marleau", "C to you", "Ten percent" or "Cash Investigation" were all created under the previous mandate.
Thanks to Delphine Ernotte, France 3 has stepped up its programs produced in the regions and launched the daily series “Un si grand Soleil”, produced in-house. But also "Affaire concluded", by Sophie Davant, a foreign format produced by the French subsidiary of the Warner group. According to a study by Tooco, only 33% of the programs created between 2015 and 2020 by France Télévisions are French ("Boyard Land", "La Lettre" or "Find the Intruder"). While 95% of the BBC's news is "made in UK".
More daring, that's what director Diego Buñuel, the group's new program director, from Netflix will try to do.
Finances cleaned up
"The group's budget was in balance from 2016 to 2019," prides herself regularly on the leader, who also recalls the absence of a striking strike under her mandate. Period during which the merger of the national newsrooms of France 2 and France 3 was completed, and the establishment of a single department for all the channels.
Bye-Bye France 4?
A month and a half from the deadline, the vagueness still reigns over the future of France 4. Will the chain close on August 9th at the same time as France Ô? Or will it be saved thanks to the Lumni courses broadcast during all the confinement, which made a splash? "If we had known what to do with France 4, there would be no plan to abolish it," asserts one of the applicants to management.
Christopher Baldelli, former RTL boss, in ambush
"It's an open secret," says one of the executives of the CSA. Christopher Baldelli, 55, former managing director of France 2 (2002-2005) and ex-CEO of RTL (2009 - 2019), is very interested in the management of public channels. Today, he is fleeing from journalists, but those around him confirm that he is actively preparing his candidacy. And consults everywhere. "He will not say anything before sending his project to the CSA, out of respect for the Wise", breathes one of his relatives.
For the moment, few candidates have officially come out of the woods. Digital advisor Pierre-Etienne Pommier, 49, is one of them. Like Serge Cimino, journalist from France Télévisions, union representative of the SNJ. And Delphine Ernotte, of course. All the other personalities quoted in the press have fiercely denied. Bluff? We will know this on July 15, when the CSA publishes the list of admissible candidates. In 2015, 33 people had sent a project…