Parliament definitively approves the reform of public broadcasting financing

The law provides for financing through the annual allocation of a “state tax amount”, as has been the case since the abolition of the fee.

The law was approved by 119 deputies. Parliament definitively voted on Wednesday, November 20, to reform the financing of public broadcasting. The deputies thus adopt the perpetuation of the mechanism put in place since the abolition of the fee in 2022. The text provides for financing by the annual allocation of an “amount of state tax”, as has been the case since 2022 with a fraction of VAT.

The law was passed without modification of the text adopted in the Senate, as the government wanted to allow rapid promulgation and thus avoid public broadcasting being financed directly from the state budget, a configuration detrimental to its independence.

Apart from La France insoumise which abstained, the left was in favor, but denounced “a compelling vote” due to “the government's inadequacies and unpreparedness”in the words of socialist deputy Emmanuel Grégoire during the debates. During the debates, the four groups of the New Popular Front recalled their attachment to a strong public audiovisual sector and their opposition to a reform of its governance, as desired by Minister Rachida Dati.

The National Rally abstained, deploring a “budget DIY”, by the voice of MP Bruno Clavet. He denounced companies “under public drip” and recalled their desire to privatize part of them.

In a message addressed to employees Wednesday evening, the president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte Cunci, welcomed a “very good news”. “From 2025, the financing of France Télévisions and all of our sister companies (Radio France, Arte, France Médias Monde, INA and TV5 Monde) will continue to be based on the allocation of revenue from a tax, this which constitutes a guarantee of stability and independence essential to the exercise of our missions”she congratulated herself.