[London Lite]

Still surprised that they are keeping the RTL name though, it makes me wonder when the licensing agreement for the name RTL is going to expire

Why would they? With other companies continuing to want to pay for licensing the RTL brand, it's another revenue stream for the group.

[London Lite]

C8 fined 300,000 Euros by French broadcasting regulator Arcom for abusive comments about about the Mayor of Paris on Touche pas à mon poste by presenter Cyril Hanouna.

newsrnd.com 

"Don't touch my post": Arcom imposes a new fine on C8 against the Ha…
The C8 channel has been fined a new €300,000 for abusive remarks against the may…
  Source: newsrnd.com

[W. Knight]

Mediawan's entertainment channel RTL9 is set to rebrand Monday. The changes take on a simplified version of the existing logo (recolored purple and blue), a higher-end and contemporary design and reenforcing its focus on airing films every night (something possible thanks to its Luxembourgian licensing) whilst adding more recent American series and procedurals during daytime. It will also add more cinema-related original editorial programming and themed blocks. The rebrand was done by Parisian agency Nude.

youtu.be 

Some more examples from the rebrand. The ad stings:
youtu.be 

Creepy Mondays variant: youtu.be 

Creepy Mondays promo and programme menu: youtu.be 

Really like how they simplified the symbol to a much more elegant look.

[W. Knight]

IDF 1 in the Île-de-France area (Paris-centred) was relaunched as 20 Minutes TV Île-de-France, named after the free paper 20 Minutes. Benefitting from the connection, news would be a large part of the new lineup:

The programmes on 20 minutes TV will be broadcast on channel 32 of DTT in the Paris region, where IDF1 has been since 2008, and are designed to appeal to young, urban working people by combining local news and entertainment.

Among the programmes is 'Salut l'Île-de-France', a daily news programme presented by Olivier Quéméner, who already worked on IDF1, just like Jacky, who is in charge of the weekly music magazine 'Jacky aux platines'. A "six-minute news round-up" will be offered daily "with journalists from 20 Minutes TV and 20 Minutes", while the newspaper's sports specialists will host an athlete every Friday at 4pm in the programme "Les croisés, tu connais".

(Translated from www.leparisien.fr )

Île-de-France : la chaîne locale 20 minutes TV prend le relais d’IDF1 - Le Paris…
Cette nouvelle chaîne proposera un programme d’actualité quotidien, ainsi que de…
  Source: www.leparisien.fr

One of the many promo stings looks like this:
youtu.be 

Promo endboard:
youtu.be 

Station promo:
youtu.be 

[Brekkie]

Where did the French go so right with local TV and where did the UK so go terribly wrong?

[Kunst]

You're romanticising too much French local TV, and probably French TV in general (ARCOM is far from being perfect).

But compared to UK, yes, local TV is slightly better, but this is not to say that local TV is huge in France

[London Lite]

The BFM Régions model is something I wish we had in the UK, which would have stopped local channels simulcasting the likes of Talk TV.

The change from IDF1 to 20 Minutes TV is drastic compared to what was on IDF1, which was a mix of cheap and cheerful old shows, some of which was French, a midday lifestyle show and there was a daily horoscope show alongside some tick box local output.

20 Minutes TV has kept on heritage presenter Jacky for a music and interview show along with Olivier Quéméner who presents Salut l'Île-de-France and news bulletins. His former co-presenter of IDF1 et vous Isabelle Kirszenblat and the horoscope show is back as a columnist on Salut l'Île-de-France.

To give it a British comparison, 20 Minutes is a commuter freesheet in Paris, similar to Metro in the UK. It's co-owned by Ouest France & Rossel group.

It'd be like DMGT acquring London Live and stamping the Metro brand on it.

[Kunst]

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, IT IS better, as I mentioned.

But I think the Germans have it better: many areas aren't covered in France by a local channel at all, except outputs for France 3, which UK also has on BBC One and ITV (not much from M6 and not at all from TF1).

Local TV in the UK has been set up badly from.the beginning.

In Germany, meanwhile, most areas have at least a proper local channel, not to speak of the Das Dritte regions, especially for the North Rhineland - Westphalia region (NRW).

Spain especially also has a very established regional TV setting. Italy too, although a bit less regulated to be honest.

France is more centralised in general, and TV is no exception, at least compared to ES and DE

[Medianext.MX]

But I think the Germans have it better: many areas aren't covered in France by a local channel at all, except outputs for France 3, which UK also has on BBC One and ITV (not much from M6 and not at all from TF1).

M6 don't have regional/local opt outs anymore. Most of them closed between 2006 and 2009, as regional newspapers (which produced many of these regional opt outs) were forced by the CSA (now Arcom) and or decided directly to focus on its local channels after the launch of the TNT; other editions produced directly by M6-supported newsrooms were dropped due to low ratings (in contrast to France 3's newscasts) and M6 shuffling its schedule to increase the number of family-oriented shows and the impeding plans from M6 to drop the Six' format in favour of anchored newscasts (as currently done).

---

The BFM Régions model is something I wish we had in the UK, which would have stopped local channels simulcasting the likes of Talk TV.

20 Minutes TV has kept on heritage presenter Jacky for a music and interview show along with Olivier Quéméner who presents Salut l'Île-de-France and news bulletins.  His former co-presenter of IDF1 et vous Isabelle Kirszenblat and the horoscope show is back as a columnist on Salut l'Île-de-France.

To give it a British comparison, 20 Minutes is a commuter freesheet in Paris, similar to Metro in the UK.    It's co-owned by Ouest France & Rossel group.

Worth noting too that 20 Minutes TV is modeling itself on the Lille-based Wéo network, also majority owned by the Rossel group (through Groupe La Voix), and which operates channels in the northern regions of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the Picardie. The founder and CEO of Wéo, Jean-Michel Lobry, is also in charge of operating the Paris channel.

www.lunion.fr 

«Joyeuse, utile et engagée», 20 Minutes TV Île-de-France a été lancée ce mardi
Adossée au groupe de presse belgo-français Rossel et dédiée aux 12 millions de F…
  Source: www.lunion.fr

---

France 3 brought back Friday its old break bumpers to promote a special documentary, L’âge d’or de la pub, produced by Thierry Ardisson and Philippe Thuillier (ADLTV), which aired that same night. The normal daytime ad breaks aired these bumpers in its original length and 4:3 format (not cropped, although with the France 3 logo placed over), with the free space filled with a promotional avail with the show's logo. The documentary per-se aired commercial-free (as customary with France Télévisions' shows after 20h).

The examples below showcase the original break bumper aired in 1983 (when the network, then France Régions 3 or FR3, was allowed to air commercial breaks, as part of a new Charter), as well as the 1987 one (the Le relief de la vie era, when the channel was culturally-oriented, by then, advertising time was handled by Espace 3, after FR3 left the former monopolist ad sales company, Régie française de publicité).

[Medianext.MX]

Summer presentation is already on air on many channels. France 2's effort is quite basic this year, just adding summer imagery to its regular jingle pubs, including this jingle promoting the new season of its summer staple Fort Boyard:

medias.lenodal.com 

(Video courtesy Lenodal)

Over on France 3, the Chinese chicks are back for another summer. As with Christmas, last year's original animations are being reused, with new additions showing them at the airport, on the supermarket and on a wedding:

www.youtube.com 

www.youtube.com 

www.youtube.com 

---

Now to some rentrée news... after 15 years of the Richard Holman/Devilfish designs, it looks like Canal+ is ready to finally refresh more throughout its look, putting it more in line with the corporate brand. The new look coincides with the launch of Canal+ Box Office, a mainstream contemporary film channel, and the repurposing of Canal+ Cinéma as... Canal+ Cinéma(s), retaining its general film remit, but now increasingly focused on French and critically acclaimed films.

www.planetecsat.com 

Changement d'identité visuelle pour les chaînes CANAL+ - Planète CSAT
A l'occasion du lancement des 2 nouvelles chaînes CANAL+, l'ensemble d…
  Source: www.planetecsat.com

Elements of the new look have been already teased during the rentrée launch conference (themed under the Summer Party concept, held on June 26) and the main channel's summer promos:

twitter.com 

medias.lenodal.com