Firmine Richard's anger did not go unnoticed. The 77-year-old actress, seen in particular in “The First Star”, “Huit Femmes” or “Retirement Home”, ranted against TF 1 during the semi-final of the “Star Academy” which opposed Franck in Ebony this Saturday January 18.
She was in L'Île-Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), with Ebony fans, when she spoke, questioned by Mathieu Johann. “All the Antilles are with you. I ask the diaspora to vote for you! » she says to the 20-year-old singer, before adding “because the votes from the West Indies are not counted, it seems”. A sentence which did not fail to make viewers react, especially on social networks.
During a second speech after her protégé's qualification for the final, Firmine Richard added another layer: “We have to get the diaspora to vote! We must count the West Indian votes, it is unacceptable that the West Indian votes are not counted,” insists the actress born in Guadeloupe, while “Start me again” by Santa covers her voice.
Why “the votes of the West Indies are not counted”?
All games and votes in the TF 1 group are reserved for people who live in mainland France. The regulations filed with a bailiff for this season of the “Star Academy”, published on October 3 and available on the La Une website, explicitly mention it: “Participation in the vote is open to any adult natural person residing in France metropolitan”.
It is therefore impossible to vote from the Antilles, just like from other overseas departments and territories, whether Reunion, New Caledonia or Mayotte, according to the terms provided by the front page.
-TF 1 details the reasons for this geographic blocking in a response published on the group's help center. “Votes and games are only accessible from mainland France. For the DROM-COM, beyond the regulatory aspect, it is above all a technical problem which does not allow us to offer residents of overseas departments, regions and communities to play by telephone and/or SMS as part of the interactive games offered during our programs”, we can read. “The overseas operators are not the same as in mainland France and the numbering plans and rules are different,” adds the audiovisual group, which did not respond to our requests.
In fact, television channels do not always broadcast their schedule live during metropolitan timetables: for example, “Douze coups de midi” are broadcast at midday local time, and not at 7 a.m. in Guadeloupe for example. Thus, “Star Academy” or “The Voice” for example, are broadcast in the West Indies several hours after their end in mainland France. It is therefore impossible to get the Ultramarines to vote both at the technical level (opening of dedicated lines, etc.) and at the timetable level, since the result has already been determined.
L’exception Miss France
However, if there is one program renowned for mobilizing overseas viewers, it is Miss France. The election broadcast in December on TF 1 generates thousands of calls each year from Tahiti to Martinique via Reunion. Contacted, the Miss France committee confirms to Le Parisien that all territories represented via regional elections can vote on the evening of the national competition, which therefore covers the DROM-COM.
But the program does not follow the same circuit as the “Star Academy”: the rights to broadcast the election are always bought by a local channel, which broadcasts the election live in the territory concerned. Whether it is TNTV in Tahiti, ViàATV in Martinique or Antenne Réunion in the Indian Ocean, it is these channels which broadcast the event and manage the votes on a territorial scale with local telephone operators. This specific cooperation agreement put in place for the election of Miss France does not cover the “Star Academy” or other tele-crochets, which is currently blocking the opening of voting in the DROM-COM.
