Opinion no. 2014-16 of October 23, 2014 on the performance report for 2013 of the contract of objectives and means between the State and Radio France.
Pursuant to the new schemes set out in the aforementioned Act no. 2013-1028 of November 15, 2013, the Board is now required to give its opinion on the COM's annual performance report (1), with a view to putting its observations on the year under review into perspective with the COM's projections for subsequent years. The implementation report was sent to the Board on September 10, 2014.
2013 was the fourth year of application of the COM. In this manager, Radio France focused its efforts on four main areas during the year:
- radio content (parts I and II of the COM entitled: "Strengthening Radio France's core business" and "Reinforcing Radio France's musical and cultural action");
- the continuation of the major orientations launched in 2011 by the New Media department (part III of the COM entitled "Developing Radio France's supply in a multimedia universe");
- human resources management (parts IV and V of the COM entitled "Improving and modernising resource management" and "Building the conditions for financial equilibrium");
- developments in the project management contract (part IV of the COM).
Radio France's COM performance report includes the 17 sets of "target" indicators, together with the results achieved and the means implemented to achieve them. 2013 was marked by the fiftieth anniversary of the Maison de la Radio and three channels: France Inter, France Culture and France Musique.
The Board notes that the COM objectives were partially met in 2013. However, in order to ensure that the Board's opinion is more effective and more in line with the company's activity, the Board considers it important that the annual performance reports, both for compliance with the specifications and for the objectives and means contract, be submitted closer to the end of the financial year in question.
I. - Radio content
Antennas :
At France Inter, to which the corporate project summons the role of "becoming a showcase for the cultural and social wealth of the country, while maintaining its status as a general-interest channel", the schedule put in place at the start of the 2013 academic year was marked by new morning appointments, the introduction of evening programs of a musical nature and numerous relocations of the channel to the regions and abroad in line with the objectives assigned by the COM.
France Info, clearly defined in the COM as "the leading source of news", has made far-reaching changes to its programming schedule, while consolidating its position as an all-news radio station. The station has created longer formats and 30-minute newscasts shown at 12 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., to better decipher current events. The station has also set up new appointments and created a service bringing together specialized journalists to strengthen ties with listeners. Finally, a new website has been launched.
France Bleu, "the network of reference in the regions", benefited from very good audience figures and the continued improvement of its network coverage, with the opening in September of the 44th station in the network, France Bleu Saint-Etienne Loire. The year 2013 was also marked by the launch by the network's management of a strategic plan, Un avenir partagé, objectif 2014. The France Bleu network has pursued its musical policy, which gives pride of place to French chanson through its on-air programming, the organization of concerts and musical partnerships. The Board regrets, however, that it has no information on the breakdown of the overall cost of France Bleu's local programming and broadcasting costs, which would enable it to better assess the objectives summonsed up in the COM: redeployments within the network, gains in terms of local broadcasting volume and productivity.
France Culture, "the station of knowledge and understanding", which aims to enable "listeners to understand the world in which they live, for all uses and on all media", has strengthened its information supply, which has been enriched by an increase in the time devoted to it. The 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. newscasts on weekdays, the editorial magazine on Fridays, and the 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts on Sundays have all been extended. Particular attention has been paid to the student world, with "Grantanfi" now a daily feature, and several student forums have been organized. In the afternoon, "Planète Terre" with Sylvain Kahn has become the program that brings together local and global challenges. Finally, in the evening, "La Dispute" now features a weekly artist who shares his or her cultural choices. France Culture is also involved in a large number of cultural events every year.
Le Mouv' has refocused on the 20-35 age group. Its musical supply is devoted to the discovery of new talent and Pop Rock music. The Board notes the frequent changes in this station's editorial line (every year for the past 3 years). It notes that Radio France representatives have announced a new schedule for January 2015, and wonders what impact these repeated changes may have on the service's audience, which has been steadily deteriorating since the start of this COM.
No notable changes were made to the France Musique and FIP channels in 2013.
Audiences and listeners:
Audiences, which are the subject of four sets of indicators in the Contract of Objectives and Means, showed a deterioration for most stations in 2013. The COM's audience targets are only very partially met. In 2012, only Le Mouv' failed to reach the COM audience target. In 2013, while France Musique, France Bleu and France Culture met their targets, this was not the case for France Inter, France Info, Fip and Le Mouv'. In addition, the Radio France group failed to meet its three-week cumulative audience targets. Finally, France Inter failed to meet its target for audience share among all general-interest stations.
The objective of addressing all audiences and promoting social diversity is a priority of the COM, which specifies this in five indicators. The Board notes a [significant] gap between the audience characteristics of the Radio France group and those of the radio medium. For example, the median age of Radio France listeners is 10 years higher than that of all radio listeners (57 vs. 47). Two channels (Le Mouv' and FiP) have seen the median age of their listeners fall. In terms of age categories, the data presented show underrepresentation in the 13-49 age group, with the exception of France Info and Le Mouv'. There is also an over-representation of higher socio-professional categories.
With regard to audience satisfaction, which is the subject of an indicator, the average satisfaction score for France Inter and France Info remains stable compared to 2012, at 6.8 and 6.9 out of 10 respectively. For France Info, the Council notes that it achieves the highest score of all the general-interest stations measured. Of the eight proposed news-related items, France Info comes out on top in five of them.
Music programming:
As far as content obligations are concerned, only the music supply is within the scope of quantified objectives summonsed to the stations of the public group. The objectives concern continued support for musical creation and new talent, particularly for the group's music-dominated channels (France Bleu, Fip, Le Mouv').
Two out of five targets were not met, concerning France Inter and Le Mouv'. In the case of France Inter, the share of new channels fell by two points, below the target set by the COM.
As for Le Mouv', the rate of new French-language talent, which has been falling steadily since 2009, stands at 24.4% instead of the 25% forecast in the COM. With regard to original EOF songs, the Council notes that the proportion of these is steadily declining on both Le Mouv' (36.1% in 2010, 32% in 2011, 30.3% in 2012 and 28.1% in 2013) and France Inter, where it stood at 43.6% in 2013. The Council regrets that the COM has not set targets for these two stations in terms of original French-language songs.
On the other hand, the objective summonsed to France Bleu concerning the proportion of French-language titles among the titles shown is perfectly achieved. In fact, the France Bleu network has a majority rate of French-language songs: 62.7%. France Bleu is also the only station to meet the obligation laid down in article 30 of its mission statement, which requires Radio France to give a majority place to original French EOF songs. Similarly, FIP shows a far higher number of different songs than the COM target: more than 2,233 different songs were shown per week in 2013. Beyond this target, the station is a model of diversity in terms of the musical genres it broadcasts.
Despite an obligation in France Télévisions' specifications to show concerts by Radio France musical groups, the Conseil regrets that cooperation between France Télévisions and Radio France has not been strengthened. The Concert de Paris, broadcast live by France 2, France Inter and France Musique, and the Christmas concert on France 3 with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra are exceptions. It could be useful to pool certain means at the recording stage, as well as for online distribution operations, as part of the cultural supplies of the two authorities' media groups, for example.
As for the average airtime devoted by Radio France channels to programs aimed specifically at youngsters, the Conseil notes that the COM does not set any targets in this respect, either on air or in terms of downloading.
II. - Digital development
Following on from the major guidelines for digital development launched in 2011, in 2013 Radio France continued to overhaul and consolidate the functionality of its channel websites (France Musique and France Bleu), create new thematic websites (France Culture Fictions, NousOson, the Maison.radiofrance.fr website launched to mark the 50th anniversary of the Maison de la radio, and launch new themed mobile applications (MarseilleSons, France Bleu Football, Pierre et le Loup or Fiction Train).
Indicators concerning channel audiences on websites and other media are exclusively monitoring indicators (2). The indicator provided for in the COM on non-linear supply is designed to measure the efforts made by Radio France to facilitate access to their programs through new listening modes (deferred broadcasting, podcasting). It shows that the proportion of Radio France's non-linear supply is increasing: the number of podcast downloads for all the group's stations rose by 18% in one year to 9.8 million. France Culture is the second most popular station for podcasts, after Europe 1. Lastly, audiences on Radio France's redesigned websites increased by 26% (3.3 million single visiters).
The Conseil can only encourage the company to continue its efforts, given the essential development of the radio medium at the same time as the evolution of digital uses, which is leading to a diversification of supply and increased competition.
In this context, the Board notes the numerous educational programs shown on Radio France. It would like Radio France to further develop its educational supply, by making more of these programs available to the public on its non-linear supply.
III. - Company management
Financial elements:
While the business plan appended to the COM 2010-2014 made provision for a level of resources increasing by 3.1% per year over the five years of the COM, the company has had to face a reduction in its budget, linked mainly to Radio France's contribution to the recovery of public finances. In 2013, public operating resources totaled €574.4 million. This represents a decrease of €8.7 M (-1.5%) on 2012, and is €31.3 M lower than the €605.7 M made provision for in 2013 under the 2010-2014 Contract of Objectives and Means.
The company's own resources were affected by the departure of the main tenant of the Maison de la Radio (RFI) and a difficult advertising market. Radio France's advertising revenues accounted for 6% of sales, at €40.4 million (down very slightly on 2012). The public group shows advertising on three of its channels: France Inter, France Info and France Bleu. Under the provisions of articles 32 to 34 of the decree of November 13, 1987, approving the terms of reference, Radio France may only show "collective advertising of general interest" on its channels.
Own resources as a proportion of total resources amounted to 8.4% in 2013 (down 0.2% on 2012); however, they remain higher than the COM target (at least 7.9%). The creation of a "diversification" division responsible for promoting the company's spaces and infrastructures, as well as its content and brands, has helped to boost these resources. The reopening of the Maison de la Radio to the public in November 2014 should reinforce this objective.
Human resources:
In a tense budgetary context, the company nevertheless presented balanced accounts thanks to the control of its operating expenses. The three objectives summonsed to control payroll and training costs were met. The Board notes the moderate development in personnel costs (0.8%). The share of personnel expenses in total operating expenses stood at 57.2% (-0.1%) compared with 2012. This is in line with the target summonsed in the COM (maximum 58.5%).
Radio France's workforce comprised 4,603.3 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, both permanent (4,211 FTE) and occasional (392.3 FTE). They are therefore virtually stable compared with fiscal 2012 (4,604.9 FTE). Permanent headcount is up slightly (+0.6%), due in particular to the opening of the France Bleu Saint-Etienne station in September 2013 and the continued development of new media. This development is also due to reductions in vacancies. Efforts were also made to control the number of casual staff (-6.1%). The objectives set out in the COM for workforce stability have been met.
In February 2013, Radio France was awarded the Label Diversité (Diversity Label), reinforcing its commitments in four areas: diversity of origins, professional equality between women and men (women accounted for 71% of hires in 2013), employment and integration of people with disabilities, and age diversity. Radio France was the first public media to be awarded this label.
The Radio France group has made a proactive commitment to achieving a target of 30% female experts on all relevant programs by the end of 2014. The Conseil is pleased to note that measurement tools have been put in place to achieve this objective, given that the Conseil has repeatedly highlighted the difficulties encountered in monitoring the on-air representation of the national community's diverse origins and cultures. However, the COM's only quantified objective in terms of promotion and equal opportunities, the proportion of women in management positions within the Group, has not been met. The figure is 33%, compared with 35% made provision for in the COM.
Under the provisions of human and financial management, the three priorities for 2014 are the conclusion of the new collective agreement, the process of which has been interrupted, the overhaul of information and management schemes, and the development of the company's own resources. Unlike France Télévisions and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel, Radio France has not yet signed a collective agreement for its PTA (Personnels Techniques et Administratifs). Similarly, the Board has no precise information or timetable concerning the implementation of information and management systems likely to generate efficiency gains for the company (strengthening the infrastructure base, overhauling the "business" information scheme, modernising the "management" information system).
IV. - Development of the renovation project
Renovation of the Radio France building began at the start of Jean-Luc Hees' term of office in May 2009. As at December 31, 2013, the total estimated cost of the investment was €385 million, €57.6 million (+17.6%) higher than the initial overall budget for the operation determined in June 2008 (€328.2 million). Phase 2, currently underway and representing the largest and most complex phase of the project, will be completed in November 2014, with the handover of the auditorium.
Phase 2, currently underway, was launched at the end of 2011, with completion scheduled for 2014. It involves the construction of a 1,461-seat auditorium, the renovation of Studio 104 and the fitting out and upgrading to norms of the rest of the Etablissement Recevant du Public (ERP) part of the Seine-front building. Radio France has decided to terminate the contract with the main architect at the end of phase 2, with the support of the French budget ministry.
With regard to the renovation work, most of the COM objectives were not achieved, either in terms of schedule or cost. Of the six target indicators for rehabilitation work, Radio France did not meet any of them, whether in terms of total estimated investment cost, estimated cost of work per structure, cost of project management and project supervision, amount of provision for contingencies, or adherence to deadlines. Only the objectives relating to sustainable development were met, as improving energy performance is one of the challenges facing this project.
With regard to deadlines, the projected completion date is now scheduled for the end of 2017, with the schedule acknowledging a further delay compared with that envisaged at the end of 2012.
The present notice will be published in the Journal officiel de la République française.
Paris, October 23, 2014.
For the French Superior Audiovisual Council
The Chairman,
O. Schrameck
(1) Article 28 of the law of November 15, 2013 amending II of article 53 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication. (2) Monitoring objectives are limited to an annual accounting of the company's results and indicate a trend.