Opinion no. 2013-19 of December 18, 2013 on the performance report for 2012 of the contract of objectives and means of the national program company France Télévisions.

Law no. 2013-1028 of November 15, 2013 on the independence of public audiovisual broadcasting confers on the French Superior Audiovisual Council the power to issue an opinion on the annual performance report on the commitments entered into by France Télévisions as part of its contract of objectives and means (COM) [1].

The summary of the performance report and then the complete and final document were sent to the Board on November 15 and 20, 2013. The summary was approved by France Télévisions' Board of Directors on October 31.

This document should enable France Télévisions to shed light on the achievement of the annual objectives that outline the COM's overall pathway and, where appropriate, the difficulties encountered in reaching them. For the Board, the performance report helps to ensure that France Télévisions' public service missions are respected, particularly with regard to qualitative commitments. This document is also part of the company's transparency and good governance mechanism.

Within this managerial framework, the Board noted that France Télévisions' indicators had generally been respected over the course of 2012. In particular, the public broadcaster played a central role in the organization of election campaigns for the presidential and legislative elections. France Télévisions' annual report also shows that the supply of news magazines has been increased. Similarly, France Télévisions has far exceeded the regulatory thresholds for the diffusion of cinematographic and audiovisual works. The introduction of digital supplies is also a positive factor in the fulfillment of the company's commitments.

The Conseil wishes to point out that the performance report for 2012 was a difficult exercise for France Télévisions.

Indeed, the public group's activity in the first half was in line with the outlook set out in the COM signed in November 2011, while the second half was marked by significant developments that called into question the initial guidelines.

In 2012, the advertising market deteriorated sharply and, as of November, discussions were held with the Government to take into account the envisaged reduction in public resources.

Under these conditions, an amendment to the COM was signed between the French State and the public group for the period 2013-2015. The Board gave its opinion on this rider in notice no. 2013-14 of September 11, 2013. The rider, which incorporates some of the Council's notices, was signed by the relevant ministers and the Chairman of France Télévisions on November 22, 2013.

However, most of the items in the performance report do not take into account the more modest targets set in 2013. The very late submission of the document has thus highlighted the obvious hiatus between the initial projections linked to the optimistic outlook of the initial COM and the reality that marked the turning point of 2012, and which was to lead to a revision of the COM's overall economy. In these conditions, apart from the few elements of perspective that may appear in the document, the exercise is sometimes rendered rather artificial.

Future annual performance reports should be more dynamic. In future, the Board would like France Télévisions to include in its presentation the developments already underway for the current year.

The Conseil insists that, in the future, annual performance reports should be submitted within a timeframe that better informs the annual assessment of France Télévisions' compliance with its contractual obligations, which the Conseil draws up each year.

I - WITH REGARD TO THE CHANNELS' EDITORIAL LINES

Among the achievements of 2012, the performance report highlights the " stronger affirmation of the national channels' identities " [2]. In reality, France Télévisions confines itself to listing the flagship programs specific to each channel.

In the case of France 3, " the channel of roots and history, of proximity and landmarks ", it is stated that it fulfilled a " mission of proximity and territorial presence " [3], notably through the diffusion in 2012 of 19,800 hours of regional programs. The document insists that this represents a substantial increase on previous years.

The text then becomes more vague, omitting to point out that this volume is summoned to be reduced from 2013 onwards - to a level that cannot, however, be less than 17,000 hours - notably to take account of new budgetary constraints [4].

The relationship between the channel's national and regional supplies is not mentioned. However, this point is currently under discussion, following proposals put forward by MP Stéphane Travert [5]. The reform of France 3 is also the subject of a mission entrusted to^Mme Brucy by the Minister of Culture and Communication.

For France 4, there is still a risk of a discrepancy between the satisfaction expressed for the 2012 financial year and the channel's current situation. Indeed, it is stated that the channel consolidated its success in 2012, but that a review has been launched, as part of the COM revision, to " overhaul the channel's editorial structure " [6].

For the nine channels of the Outremer^1ère network, the editors consider that the 20% proportion of locally-produced programs was too ambitious. In 2012, this proportion actually represented 18.6%. However, the rider to the COM summons additional efforts from France Télévisions to reach 19.5% in 2013, then 20% for 2014 and 2015.

Audience figures, which are the subject of several indicators in the COM, stabilized overall in 2012 for France 2 and France 3, while rising for France 4 and France 5. The audience share of France Télévisions Group channels totaled 30.2%, up 0.3 points on 2011 [7].

II - DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT

2012 was marked by the launch of the francetv sport platform, which provided internet access to broadcasts of the London Olympics during the summer. France Télévisions also launched the francetv education portal in November. The francetv info supply , made available to the public in 2011, was rolled out to cell phone and tablet applications a year after its launch.

In 2012, the francetv pluzz catch-up TV supply was made available from electronic communications operators' multiservice offerings, and continued its development phase. At that date, 75% of programs were available in catch-up mode.

These new supplies continue to meet with great success. Data on their development costs and the annual budget allocated to France Télévisions' digital supplies would have been useful for a better understanding of the effort devoted to the Group's digital development.

The performance report addresses the question of how to add value to these supplies, pointing out that in 2012, advertising revenues amounted to 10.5 million euros, a 50% increase on 2011 [8]. This pathway has been called into question and, without ignoring the cyclical difficulties, the lack of ambition in diversifying digital revenues was highlighted by the Conseil in the aforementioned opinion no. 2013-14 of September 11, 2013.

Developments relating to connected TV are very brief. In addition, there is no mention of the diffusion of public channels in high definition. Yet this is an essential issue for the public channels' supply [9].

In the case of France 2, the COM amendment maintains the objective of full HD broadcasting by 2015. However, this broadcasting method only showed 52% of the channel's programs in 2011, and 60% in 2012.

However, this pace needs to be accelerated, in particular by setting up a roll-out schedule for equipment, so that the target set can be reached within two years [10].

III - DEVELOPMENTS IN PROGRAM SUPPLY

The document refers to France Télévisions' " historic level " of investment in audiovisual production, reaching 420.3 million euros. The same wording, underlining " record levels of funding ", specifies that the public group invested 62.8 million euros in support of cinematographic creation [11].

At the date of submission of the performance report, these figures could no doubt have been put into perspective by indicating that the level of funding would be reduced, for the period 2013-2015, to 400 million euros for audiovisual production and 57 million euros for cinematic production [12].

The public group also points out that the commitments made in the COM in terms of cultural supply have often been exceeded [13]. For example, in 2012, 808 cultural programs - as of an obligation to broadcast 365 [14] - were shown during the first part of the evening on France Télévisions' channels [15].

However, in compliance with article 4 of France Télévisions' terms of reference [16], it would be advisable to establish more clearly what falls under the notion of cultural programs, particularly with regard to the "quality requirement" that must characterize the supply of national program companies [17].

At 2,112 hours, the volume of music programming remains stable compared with 2011 (2,146 hours) [18]. However, it is relatively low during prime time and in the first part of the evening program slots [19].

Here again, the report remains highly descriptive. There is no discussion of the exposure of music in France Télévisions' digital supply, or of the new commercial resources likely to be generated by the music supply, particularly video on demand [20].

The culturebox digital platform, launched in June 2013, is undoubtedly summoned to enhance the online exposure of music.

With regard to news, the public broadcasting group rightly emphasizes the importance of its supply in 2012, notably due to the coverage given to the election of the President of the Republic and the legislative elections. With regard to the management of means and the complementarity of channels, a common scheme has been put in place between the various editorial teams to broadcast election evenings.

In 2012, the public broadcasting group also launched the " i.nat " project, designed to go paperless before the end of 2013, and the " Info 2015 " editorial project, with a view to creating a single France Télévisions newsroom within three years [21].

The Board remains very attentive to the implementation of these ambitious projects, which are likely to generate significant efficiency gains for the company.

However, with effect from the date of submission of this report, the interest of these announcements remains very limited. The sections devoted to them could have provided more details on their costs or the stages in their implementation.

IV - THE BUSINESS MODEL

While France Télévisions is committed to promoting the professional integration of people with disabilities, it is regrettable that the COM implementation report does not present any figures on developments in the employment rate of the staff concerned.

Similarly, there is no information to measure the results of the various action plans implemented within the company to improve gender equality [22] or to guarantee a 20% proportion of employees aged over 55.

The Council notes, however, that social cohesion within the company is tending to strengthen. The steps taken in 2012 to obtain the " Diversity " label, issued by AFNOR, should be completed by early 2014.

With regard to the company's management, data for the 2012 financial year show a breakeven net result (+2.2 million euros). The Board notes that this result was more than 60% down on the 2011 figure.

Moreover, the document indicates that this break-even result could only be achieved by carrying forward to 2013 a provision for restructuring costs amounting to 35 million euros [23].

As a result, it will be difficult to present the financial statements for 2013, particularly as other expenses will be incurred, notably to finance voluntary redundancies (89.3 million euros have been provisioned in this respect).

During 2012, the document states that 250 positions were filled within the company [24]. Headcount development reveals a 0.9% increase in the average employment level from 10,397 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in 2011 to 10,491 FTEs in December 2012, an average increase of 94 FTEs.

The employment pathway shows, however, that by June 2013 this figure had fallen by 340 FTEs to 10,151.5 FTEs. According to the rider to the COM, this effort will be continued, as the total workforce should be reduced to 9,750 FTEs by 2015 [25].

Finally, comments on the 1.5% increase in schedule costs in 2012 highlight the difficulties faced by France Télévisions, which must now reckon with schedule costs falling by an average of 0.5% over the next three years [26].

*

Pursuant to the new schemes set out in the aforementioned law of November 15, 2013, the Board will henceforth be asked to give its opinion on the annual COM performance report, with a view to putting its observations on the year under review into perspective in relation to COM projections for subsequent years.

The present notice will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.

Paris, December 18, 2013

For the French Superior Audiovisual Council :
Le président,
O. SCHRAMECK

[1] Article 28 of the Act of November 15, 2013 amending II of Article 53 of Act no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication.

[2] P. 5.

[3] P. 7.

[4] This reduction in the minimum volume of regional programs was included in the rider to the COM, p. 13.

[5] These proposals were formulated as part of the opinion, adopted on October 10, 2013, by the French National Assembly's Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education on the draft legislation on the 2014 budget.

[6] P. 6.

[7] P. 9.

[8] P. 96.

[9] In accordance with article 43-11 of the amended law of September 30, 1986, public television is characterized by a general objective of quality and innovation.

[10] The Conseil reiterated this requirement in the Bilan annuel de France Télévisions pour 2012, p. 7 and in notice no. 6 issued under the provisions of the aforementioned notice no. 2013-14.

[11] PP. 10 and 90.

[12] Avenant au COM, p. 32 and 35.

[13] P. 58

[14] This figure was increased to 450 in the amendment to the COM signed on October 31, 2013. The Board had issued a notice to this effect in the aforementioned notice no. 2013-14, notice no. 10.

[15] This figure is in line with that actually retained by the Conseil in the context of France Télévisions' Annual Review for 2012, in preference to the initial figure of 920 programs declared by the group. Cf. p. 7.

[16] Paragraph¹ stipulates that " France Télévisions shall show nationally at least one cultural program each day in the first part of the evening, in the following genres: live performance broadcasts; music programs; magazines and documentaries on culture and knowledge (discovery, history, science, heritage, portraits of artists, etc.); exceptional cultural events; works of drama focusing on discovery and knowledge, in particular literary adaptations, biographies, historical reconstructions. "

[17] Article 43-11 of the amended law of September 30, 1986.

[18] P. 11 and pp. 61-65.

[19] Cf Bilan annuel de France Télévisions pour 2012 précité, p. 6.

[20] These avenues were envisaged in the initial COM signed in November 2011.

[21] P. 95.

[22] It is nevertheless specified that in February 2013, the composition of the company's executive committee developed to include 6 women among the 19 members, p. 87.

[23] P. 9.

[24] P. 82.

[25] P. 93.

[26] P. 90.