the radio network will be called Ici from January 6

Goodbye France Bleu, hello Here: the network of 44 local public antennas of Radio France will change its name on January 6 as part of a merger initiated a long time ago with France 3.

“Strengthen cooperation”

The Ici brand “first aims to bring together our forces under the same label (and under) a common flag,” Céline Pigalle, director of France Bleu, said this Wednesday. The president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, and her counterpart at Radio France, Sibyle Veil, announced in October 2023 the eventual union of France 3 and France Bleu under the Ici brand, in order to strengthen the cooperation illustrated by the joint morning shows launched in 2019.

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A collaboration between France Bleu and France TV which dates from 2019

Since 2019, 37 joint “ici matin” morning shows have been launched and, since April 2022, the “ici” platform has existed and ranks as the number one Radio/TV brand, with nearly 12.4 million unique visitors per month .

The beginnings of the merger

This project aroused union opposition in both companies, its opponents seeing it as the beginnings of a pure and simple merger. Asked about other future mergers between television and radio, Céline Pigalle replied: “We can think about continuing in this logic” and “we are going to work on other shared elements”.

These changes come at a time when the status of public broadcasting is the subject of political discussions. Suspended by the dissolution, the project to create a holding company bringing together its different branches (France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and Ina) will return to the National Assembly on December 17.

Media closer to people

The creation of the “major local radio, TV and digital media” that is Ici is “a revolution”, judged Sibyle Veil. Changing brands is “obviously taking a risk”, it is “in keeping with the message we want to send to the public”, added the president of Radio France. According to her, we need “media closer to the people, in touch with all the realities of the country”, while they are “particularly centralized and concentrated in Paris”. “We want to work hard to reduce the feeling of distance, invisibility and, for some, abandonment,” insisted Sibyle Veil, pointing out “the disconnection of a whole section of the public from the media.”