Ouest-France is reviewing its copy. According to information from La Lettre, the management of the future channel has decided to “play it safe” before its launch on TNT in 2025. Selected by Arcom last July to compensate for the departures of C8 and NRJ 12, OFTV (for Ouest-France TV) is currently in discussions with the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication to benefit from a six-month reprieve to be able to begin her career on TNT on September 1, 2025, as she had requested during her hearing, and not on March 1, the date of the ruling of the broadcast of C8 and NRJ12.
35 employees instead of 58 announced
If two launch schedules are indeed considered, “a transition grid” will be implemented in the event of launch on March 1, 2025. Guénaëlle Troly, appointed general director of OFTV on Wednesday October 2, 2024, still does not know on which channel – 8, 12, another? – her channel will be broadcast. Behind the scenes, the five leaders of the Ouest-France group who had defended their case against the wise men of Arcom are still preparing for this imminent launch But according to our colleagues from La Lettre, OFTV “.slightly lowered its ambitions before its launch“. “Exit the 58 recruitments advanced before Arcom on July 16 to convince Roch-Olivier Maistre and his college to allocate to Ouest-France one of the fifteen frequencies put into play on TNT (…) Fabrice Bazard, the director general of Ouest-France, specified during the group’s last CSE in mid-September, that the chain will have around 35 employees (at its launch, editor’s note)“, we can read.
Reason given? Minimize investments as long as “certain audience level will not have been reached“. According to our colleagues, “OFTV will thus favor external orders over in-house programs.“. Other modification: “Construction work on the TV set in Rennes – one of the channel’s main arguments to defend its regional roots – will not begin before 2026, or even 2027, due to their significant cost. It is at the end of this project that the workforce will be increased to around fifty employees.“, writes La Lettre.
Contacted by Puremédiascommunication from Ouest-France TV did not respond to our requests.
Also read: TNT channels: What will Ouest-France TV and Réels TV offer which will replace C8 and NRJ 12 in 2025?
“OFTV, a generalist, national and free channel, will talk about and to the French”
“OFTV, a generalist, national and free channel, will talk about and to the French (…) Faithful to its inspiring slogan: ‘Life, in truth’, it will report on a plural France as it is truly experienced by all the French and will highlight the authenticity and diversity of all regions. OFTV will offer accessible, intelligent, positive and varied programming“intended for 25-49 year olds in peripheral France,” the management said in a press release sent to the editorial staff at the beginning of October.
On July 16, 2024, five leaders of the Ouest-France group had in fact defended against Arcom a file comprising “five pillars”: a daily talk show entitled “Le Talk en true” focusing on humans “with people we don’t see on television”, entertainment, with the adaptation of digital formats but also recordings of concerts and comedy shows, information, with a daily news (“De la common in the world”), fiction, with two cinema evenings per week and accompanied in certain cases by debate evenings. There could also be broadcasts of cycling competitions.
