France 24

France 24 or France Vingt-Quatre is a 24-hour news station based in Paris, France, with regional offices in Saint-Domingo, Louisianne, Algeria, and New Francy. France 24 was created in the hopes of competing more fully with the Commonwealth's BBC.

Creation

In an announcement from Paris, 30 November, 2005, Communication Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres announced the signing of a contract by public and private stations around the french speaking world to create a news agency to rival the BBC and IBAP.

Canal Français Informations International or CFII, as it was initially named, would be set to launch in January of 2006. The first agencies to sign up were the TéléLouisianne group, Nouvelles Algerie, and after protracted negotiations with Omnipresse from New Francy. While TéléLouisianne and Nouvelles Algerie agreed to allow all international news to come from France 24, Omnipresse agreed only to contribute and to accept up to a maximum of 20% of international news from France 24.

In the press release for the creation of the station, it was stated that France 24 was intended to serve as a platform to counter the perceived prevailing Commonwealth view of world affairs, something particularly noted during the Florida War of 2004, where coverage was largely handled by the BBC and Rikets Radio & Television.

When concern was raised in the halls of parliament as to the chances of success for the CFII in the fast-paced global TV news sector, the French culture minister, Alastaire Pernet was quick to say: "We have to enter the fray, and quickly so. Let us not abandon hope."

Current Status

France 24 has posted double-digit growth in viewership for the prior two years, however, this is expected to level off, due to the current lack of other language support. France 24 is in negotiations with other news outlets throughout the world to meet this challenge.