Opinion no. 2014-21 of December 17, 2014 on the performance report for 2013 of the contract of objectives and means between the State and France Médias Monde.

Pursuant to article 53 of French law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, the French Superior Audiovisual Council is summoned to issue an opinion on the annual report on the implementation of the contract of objectives and means (hereinafter "COM") between the State and France Médias Monde.

This report was submitted to the Board on November 21, 2014.

Based on the strategic plan drawn up by France Médias Monde in a participatory manner in 2012 and 2013, the first COM, signed on April 9, 2014 and applicable from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015, summons three main sets of objectives for the national program company:

• renew the program supply for the three media, France 24, RFI and Monte Carlo Doualiya, as well as their visual identities (part I of the COM entitled "Affirming the identities of the three media on a foundation of shared values") ;
• continue to expand the global diffusion and distribution of the channels, and increase their audience by maintaining the positions they have acquired in so-called consolidation zones, strengthening them in so-called development zones, or approaching new markets in so-called conquest zones; develop the presence and audience of the new media associated with each of the channels (part II of the COM entitled: "Develop a global presence on all media");
• implement the company's new organization (merger of support functions, harmonization of labor relations) and streamline its management (part III of the COM entitled "Building a group that respects its employees and continuing to adapt its operational organization").

The year 2013 was marked by the consolidation of the France Médias Monde entity as a structure (the physical regrouping of the RFI, Monte Carlo Doualiya and France 24 teams in the same premises, following the legal merger of the three companies) and as an "umbrella" (the company in charge of France's external audiovisual services took the name France Médias Monde on June 27, 2013).

The year 2013 was also cruelly mourned by the murder in Mali of two RFI employees, Ghislaine DUPONT and Claude VERLON, in the course of their work. This tragedy illustrates the danger faced by teams working for the French media, and France Médias Monde in particular.

The Board notes that many of the COM objectives were met in 2013.

In future, the Board would like to receive the annual COM performance report before the end of the first half of the following year, so that its opinion is more in line with the company's activity.

I. - Editorial objectives.

The vast majority of the COM's editorial objectives have been achieved.

In line with its COM, France Médias Monde largely renewed its program supply in 2013, with new schedules, new programs and new packaging for all its media.

The Board notes a substantial increase in the share of first-run programs on RFI (+7.6%) and France 24 (+24.8%), whereas the COM had summonsed only a simple, unquantified increase in this share.

In terms of linguistic strategy, the Board applauds the efforts made to adapt France 24's channels to target audiences, notably by relaxing the parallelism of France 24's channels, and RFI's emphasis on certain languages (from one to thirteen hours of daily airtime in Khmer for RFI in Cambodia, and preparations for the launch of an opting out channel in a new West African language).

With regard to the obligation to make France 24's programs accessible to the deaf or hard-of-hearing, introduced in the COM following the opinion it issued on December 11, 2013 on France Médias Monde's draft COM for the period 2013-2015, the Board regrets that this obligation only concerns the diffusion of two subtitled news broadcasts per day on the French version of France 24. In its opinion, the Board had demanded that COM impose at least four subtitled news broadcasts per day on this signal. It also regrets that this obligation does not have to be implemented before the end of 2015, and the lack of progress towards the targets set during the course of the COM. However, it notes with satisfaction that, according to COM 2013-2015, "the next COM will aim to intensify this effort, with the associated means", and recalls the particular responsibilities of a national program company in this respect. The Board will be particularly vigilant in ensuring that two news broadcasts are subtitled as soon as possible, and in any event before June 30, 2015, as well as the new obligations summoned in the next COM.

II. - Diffusion, distribution, audience and awareness targets (on-air and associated new media).

France Médias Monde's 2013 broadcast and distribution expansion targets have largely been met. The Board applauds the progress made in this area in a highly competitive environment.

In particular, the Board notes the following highlights:

• "a record increase in 2013 in the distribution of France 24, from 206 to 256 million households in one year, an increase of 24% (development in India, on the West Coast of the United States, strengthening in the United Kingdom, renewal of DTT in Italy, etc.)" ;
• for RFI, three new FM frequencies, two in Côte d'Ivoire and one in Cambodia;
• for MCD, the experience of a first terrestrial broadcast in France, in Marseille, on the occasion of the event "Marseille-Provence 2013, European Capital of Culture", where between July 31, 2013 and January 31, 2014, a program associating the Arabic-speaking radio station and RFI (in French) was shown, within the framework of a temporary authorization issued to France Médias Monde by the board in application of article 28-3 of the law of September 30, 1986.

Under the provisions of the COM, the audience figures for each of France Médias Monde's three channels are satisfactory, as follows (based on weekly audience figures):

• France 24: 41.4 million viewers (for a COM target of 41.7 million viewers for 2013) ;
• RFI: 34.7 million listeners (for a COM target of 34.5 million listeners);
• MCD: 7 million listeners (COM target 6.7 million).

For their part, the websites and applications, overhauled in 2013 and early 2014, saw a sharp increase in traffic in 2013 (+23.5% for RFI, +27.8% for France 24, +50% for MCD), whereas the COM made provision for a simple target increase, not quantified.

Looking beyond the 2013 financial year, the Board highlights the following two points:

Firstly, France Médias Monde will have to progressively equip France 24's production department with high-definition (HD) production means, in order to meet distributors' new requirements. This challenge was anticipated in the COM 2013-2015, which states that "the transition to HD will be one of the structuring elements of France Médias Monde's next COM for the period 2016-2020".

Secondly, with regard to the COM-promoted expansion of terrestrial broadcasting of France Médias Monde antennas in France, the specifications of the company in charge of external audiovisuel, set by decree no. 2012-85 of January 25, 2012, were amended twice in 2014 (decree no. 2014-60 of January 27, 2014 and no. 2014-1027 of September 8, 2014) to - among other things - make it legally possible.

Having received a request from the government to this effect, on September 17, 2014, the Board awarded France Médias Monde the radioelectric resource intended for the diffusion of France 24 (French version) by terrestrial hertzian means in the Ile-de-France region. This diffusion began on September 23, 2014 on channel 33.

III. - With regard to objectives relating to human resources, financial management and cooperation with other public audiovisual companies.

The Board welcomes the positive development in the social climate within the company, which has enabled the achievement of a number of objectives.

It welcomes the efforts made in terms of gender equality.

It stresses that it will be particularly attentive to new advances in the area of diversity. It also commends the management efforts made by France Médias Monde, both in terms of the substantial reduction in overheads (thanks in particular to the merger of cross-functional support functions) and the control of payroll, enabling the company to present a slight net surplus and maintain its ambitions, despite virtually stable public funding and a fall in its own resources.

Finally, the Board is pleased to note that the partnership policy set out in the COM is being actively pursued (notably with France Télévisions, TV5 Monde and Radio France). These cooperative ventures contribute to the sound management of public resources and to France's economic and cultural influence.