Opinion no. 2015-18 of September 30, 2015 on the performance report for 2014 of the contract of objectives and means between the State and France Médias Monde.

In accordance with Article 53 of Law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication, the French Superior Audiovisual Council (hereinafter: "the Council") is summoned to issue an opinion on the annual report on the execution of the Contract of Objectives and Means (hereinafter: "COM") that has been concluded between the French State and the national program company France Médias Monde for the period 2013-2015.

The COM performance report for 2014 was submitted by France Médias Monde to the Board on April 24, 2015. The Board notes with satisfaction this transmission before the end of the first half-year following the financial year concerned, as it had expressed the wish to do in its opinion of December 17, 2014 on the COM performance report for 2013.

As a reminder, the COM summons the national program company to achieve three main sets of objectives:

• to renew the program supply of the three media, France 24, RFI and Monte Carlo Doualiya (hereinafter: "MCD"), as well as their visual identity (part I of the COM entitled "Affirming the identities of the three media on a foundation of shared values") ;
• continue to expand the worldwide diffusion and distribution of the channels, and increase their audience by consolidating the strong positions acquired in the so-called consolidation zones, strengthening them in the so-called development zones, and approaching new markets in the 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 worldwide 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").

As France Médias Monde points out in the performance report, "within the framework of a limited increase in all its resources in 2014 (+0.5%), France Médias Monde was able to consolidate its achievements in 2014, develop its audiences and preserve the bulk of its development projects thanks to its continued efforts to achieve savings and productivity".

Nevertheless, France Médias Monde summoned the Board's attention to the fact that the company no longer had the room for maneuver to envisage, for the period 2016-2020, further cost-cutting efforts to finance its continued development. The Board will be paying close attention to developments in France Médias Monde's public resources over the period, in a context where the company must assert and, if possible, develop its presence around the world in the face of a multiplication of local supplies and growing competition from international operators with much greater financial means. This question is in fact part of the more global context of developments in public resources for public audiovisuel and efforts to pool resources between the various operators.

As was the case for 2013, the Board notes that the commitments France Médias Monde made under its COM were largely met in 2014. The main achievements are as follows:

I. -With regard to editorial objectives

In 2014, France Médias Monde continued and completed the actions initiated in 2013 (new on-air schedules in November 2013) to achieve the editorial objectives set out in the COM. These include:

• renewing and enriching the schedules and content of existing channels:

- for France 24: easing the parallelism of the three antennas (French-speaking, English-speaking and Arabic-speaking) through the development of new programs specific to each language antenna; preparation for the introduction of subtitling of two news broadcasts a day, as part of the objective of accessibility for deaf or hard-of-hearing people. The board notes with satisfaction that this subtitling, covering two fifteen-minute news broadcasts (each rebroadcast once), while not implemented in 2014, has been on air since June 1, 2015, and this in accordance with the wish it expressed in its opinion on the COM performance report for 2013. The Board invites France Médias Monde to substantially amplify this effort from 2016.

- for RFI: enrichment of schedules (particularly those of services in Russian, Chinese and Haoussa) and English, diffusion of new French-language learning programs;

- for MCD: strengthening the France-Arab world axis in content with the launch of the weekly program "L'heure du Golfe", modernised the format of certain programs to make them more appealing to a younger audience;

- for RFI and MCD: renewal of on-air packaging (following that of France 24 in 2013);

- for all three channels: increase in the volume of original programs, development of relocations and special days, continued development of new media (websites, mobile applications, social networks, audio/video content).

• the development of new diffusion languages:

- for France 24: initial work on the "in-depth feasibility study" provided for in the COM - and in fact finalized in May 2015 - for FMM's definition of a "five-year development strategy for a France 24 diffusion in Spanish" (COM), with a view to the COM 2016-2020. Provided that the public resources allocated to France Médias Monde over this period allow it, the Board, in line with its opinion of December 11, 2013 on the draft COM submitted to it by the government, welcomes France 24's plan to broadcast in Spanish, with a program unit run from Paris benefiting from the expertise of RFI's Spanish-language newsroom and a newsroom based in Latin America. This new development would be in line with the channel's objective of deploying in this zone (considered by the COM as a conquest zone, like Asia and North America), insofar as most of France 24's major competitors have developed a Spanish-language version, and this new linguistic version of France 24 would also be a means of strengthening the service's presence in the North American area.

- for RFI: continued preparations for the launch of a supply in Mandinka, the West African lingua franca. This launch, made provision for in the COM for 2014, had to be postponed to 2015.

II. - Audience, diffusion and distribution targets (on-air and associated new media)

As in 2013, France Médias Monde's objectives in terms of audience and the expansion of diffusion and distribution of its antennas for 2014 were largely achieved. These performances are to be welcomed in the context of ever-increasing competition, concerning France 24 in particular.

Each of France Médias Monde's three media outlets can boast average weekly audience figures for 2014 that exceed the targets set by the COM, whereas this was not the case for France 24 in 2013. Thus:

- France 24 attracted 45.9 million viewers (+4.5 million, or +11%, an increase resulting from audience growth in French-speaking and non-French-speaking Africa, as well as in the Maghreb and the Near and Middle East) ;

- RFI counted 37.3 million listeners (+ 2.6 million, or + 8%, due to audience increases in French-speaking Africa and the Maghreb);

- MCD was credited with 7.3 million listeners (+ 0.3 million, or + 5%, due to audience growth in the Maghreb and Africa).

In future, the Board would like to have audience figures for each of France 24 and RFI.

With regard to the geographical expansion of the three media, the following elements were noted for 2014:

• For France 24, an increased presence :

- in its consolidation zones, in the Maghreb/Near and Middle East and in French-speaking Africa;

- in its development zones, in the Near and Middle East (Qatar, Jordan, Israel), in English-speaking Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria), in Europe (Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria in particular) and, moreover, in France, with the broadcast of France 24 in French on DTT in Ile-de-France (channel 33) since September 23, 20141 ;

- in its areas of conquest, in India and Asia Pacific (regions where France Médias Monde regrets, however, that growth is held back by insufficient financial resources to invest as the Group would like), Canada and Argentina.

The Board once again emphasizes - as it did in its opinion on France Médias Monde's COM implementation report for 2013 - the importance of being able to offer audiovisual distribution and diffusion operators (by cable, satellite, broadband, etc.) a signal shown in high definition (HD) in order to maintain France 24's presence in certain regions (Europe, Asia, the Americas). To this end, the gradual migration of France 24's production and diffusion equipment to HD was initiated in 2014.

• For RFI :

- strengthening its FM diffusion network in French-speaking Africa (considered as a consolidation zone by the COM), with two new transmitters in Côte d'Ivoire ;

- progress in its development zones: in Cambodia, where the Khmer-language service was launched in 2013 (new frequency in Phnom Penh), in non-French-speaking Africa (takeover agreements in Nigeria and East Africa) ;

- the negotiation or conclusion of new diffusion agreements in its conquest zones: negotiations with a view to satellite coverage of the Maghreb and the Near/Middle East, agreements for cable distribution in Argentina and satellite distribution in Brazil, agreements with 114 new radio partners across the Americas (mainly Latin America).

• For MCD :

- the opening of two new transmitters in its development zones, in Tripoli (Libya) and Muscat (Sultanate of Oman);

- improved diffusion in the Palestinian Territories (Middle East, consolidation zone), with increased transmitter power in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron (whose transmitter provides coverage of Gaza);

- the withdrawal of transmitters from Tikrit and Mosul (Iraq);

- the status quo with regard to its areas of conquest (Maghreb, Africa, Americas).

With regard to the new media associated with each of the three services, audience figures are increasing (in line with the COM), with the exception of the figure for France 24 websites and applications, which is slightly down on 2013. Overall, there was an increase in website and app traffic of around 1 million visitors on average per month between 2013 and 2014, and a very sharp rise in social network traffic, from around 9 million friends/contractors to the digital applications of all the media to over 20 million between 2013 and 2014. With regard to the deployment of MMF media in so-called "Over The Top" (OTT) supplies - outside the ISP's supply - and connected TV, as made provision for in the COM, the Board notes that the scale of this deployment is still limited.

III. - Objectives relating to human resources, cooperation with other public audiovisuel companies and financial management

In 2014, France Médias Monde's directors began negotiations with employee representatives with a view to concluding - in principle, before the end of 2015 - a company-wide agreement "whose objective is to establish a social status for all FMM employees, harmonized in its operations and in its treatment of the various categories of personnel". This objective stems from the legal merger, in 2012, of the various companies making up the French public audiovisual sector (the publishing companies of each of the three media and the holding company controlling them). Prior to this agreement, the unification of employee representative bodies, which had been underway since 2013, was completed in 2014. The Board welcomes the progress made in this area.

Concerning the fight agains discrimination:

• The Board appreciates the attention paid by France Médias Monde's management to the issue of gender equality.
• It notes with satisfaction the new advances in terms of diversity with, in particular, the signing of the charter - drawn up under the aegis of the French Superior Audiovisual Council and signed on February 11, 2014 - aimed at promoting the training and professional integration of disabled people in the audiovisual communication sector and the signing of the generation contract (on October 17, 2014). The Board encourages France Médias Monde's management to further develop its actions in this area.

With regard to cooperation objectives with other public audiovisual companies, the Board takes positive note of the agreements reached with Radio France and TV5 Monde (not to mention the steps taken with AFP and INA), even though it observes that the COM performance report for 2014 makes no mention of any actions arising from their implementation. As far as France Télévisions is concerned, the Board believes that cooperation could be strengthened.

With regard to financial aspects, the Board notes with satisfaction that France Médias Monde achieved a slightly positive net result in 2014 - as it did in 2013 - thanks to ongoing savings and productivity efforts, against a backdrop of a 5.1% drop in public resources between 2011 (€252.7 million) and 2014 (€239.7 million). The Board applauds these management achievements, which have helped to maintain a balanced budget. However, the Board notes that personnel costs (payroll) account for 53% of the company's operating expenses, compared with 51% forecast in the COM, and more than 70% of the editorial budget. In addition, it notes that the Group's total headcount measured in "full-time equivalents" (FTE) rose in 2014 to 1,762, instead of the 1,714 provided for in the COM, with the proportion of non-permanent employment reduced in 2014 to 28% (versus 31% in 2013), instead of the 26% provided for in the COM. According to France Médias Monde, these overruns must be assessed in the light of the following circumstances:

• new hires (6 FTE) required to migrate France 24's equipment and diffusion to high definition (HD);
• the internalization of certain service providers (10 FTE) in charge of "strategic" tasks (giving them access to the company's IT scheme), whose in-house activity is less costly;
• the full-year effect of the new program schedules (on air since the end of 2013) and France 24's coverage of very dense news coverage (22 FTE);
• the increased need to replace staff on long-term sick leave at RFI (10 FTE), where the 20% reduction in the workforce a few years ago (two redundancy plans) meant that there was no room for maneuver to cope with these absences through temporary internal redeployment.

The Board considers that, for the period of the next COM (2016-2020), it is important, while taking into account the imperative of consolidating public finances, that the company can count on a level of funding that will enable it to maintain its financial equilibrium while assuming its missions in the service of France's influence.

The present notice will be published in the Journal Officiel.

Paris, September 30, 2015.

For the French Superior Audiovisual Council
The Chairman,
O. Schrameck

(1) Decree no. 2014-1027 of September 8, 2014 amending France Médias Monde's specifications expressly opened up the possibility for FMM's three services to address the French public residing in France (articles¹ and 2 of the amended specifications). This amendment enabled the Council, at its September 17, 2014 Plenary Meeting, to act on the request, which had been referred to it under article 26 of the September 30, 1986 Act by the Minister of Culture and Communication (on May 7, 2014), for priority reservation of a radioelectric resource for FMM to show France 24, full-time and in the French language, by terrestrial hertzian means in the Ile-de-France region.