MPs ready to evict ‘reality TV’
Big Brother-style shows could be voted off of public channels in bill to reform public television.
REALITY TV shows will be banned from public channels if MPs vote them off.
Minister of Culture Christine Albanel made the announcement in an interview in the Journal du Dimanche over the weekend.
Albanel denied that the government wanted to recreate public television in the mould of the BBC and said that, in contrast to British public channels, reality TV shows would not be allowed.
“It is necessary to have the means and imagination to create programmes which make their mark through their originality,” she said.
She added that she saw no reason to extend the redevance audiovisuelle to computers – despite the fact that they could be used to watch TV over the internet.
A bill to reform public broadcasting is under discussion in parliament where it has been subject to 900 amendments. Albanel criticised Socialist MPs for unnecessarily prolonging the debate.
The head of France Télévisions, Patrick de Carolis, had already said that he did not want reality shows on the public channels – France 2, France 3, France 4 and France 5.
Last week, 4,000 staff on the channels and Radio France went on strike at the proposed reforms which will see advertising banned after 20.00 and then entirely removed from 2012.
The legislation will also give the government the power to directly name the head of France Télévisions, who is currently chosen by and independent body.
Opposition groups have criticised the bill as a sop to Martin Bouygues – the owner of private broadcaster TF1 and close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy.
