France Télévisions pinned by the Court of auditors, Le Figaro

The Sages believe that the staff of the audiovisual group public remain too large, and suggest a reconciliation of France 3 and France Bleu.

A management that “lack of rigour”, a company “not enough reform”, a differentiation in the editorial of the channels judged to be “inadequate”… The Court of accounts does not take lightly to criticism of France Télévisions and across the group, its executive officers: Delphine Ernotte, but also his predecessor, Rémy Pflimlin.

In their report published this Monday, the Sages have carefully examined the accounts of the group of public broadcasting, which gathers 5 national channels and 24 regional stations and 9 television stations and radio overseas, and are not soft, denouncing progress insufficient on several folders: the unique company France Télévisions, the headcount reduction, purchasing policy or program information. But also suggesting the approximation of the network France 3 and France Bleu…

The Court of auditors finds it first the loss of hearing overall France Tv between 2008 and 2015, “more sensitive than that of the group TF1″, she noted. “The creation of a single enterprise in march 2009 has not led France Télévisions to take full advantage of the expected synergies from the merger, noted the Court, which list one of the support functions in “redundancy” as “the control of spending is imperative”. France Televisions would have filled a little bit behind in terms of digital transformation, but peinerait to release resources to invest in its future.

France Télévisions, which included, at the end of 2015, 9 932 full-time jobs, “has not been able to significantly reduce its number of permanent staff and the use of the employment non-permanent is not quite mastered,” says the Court of auditors. For it, “the collective agreement concluded in may 2013 (so under the mandate of Rémy Pflimlin, editor’s NOTE) substantially increased the wage bill, without dealing with the question of the versatility of employees, compromising the processing capacity of the company.”

The report then refers to the purchases of programs, the reform of the production sector or the teams dedicated to the information remained according to the Court “to the variance of the productivity improvements expected to result from the incorporation of the single undertaking”… But it goes far enough when it examines the situation of regional networks. One of France 3 is considered “expensive”, but especially the Court of auditors suggested that”a rapprochement between the network France Bleu Radio France network France 3 could operate on the model of the Outre-Mer 1ère (…) that combines radio, tv and digital, under the umbrella of a clear strategy and shared”.

The Court of auditors concludes that the company France Télévisions must “improve the performance and the rigour of its management, control expenses, ( … ), and to accelerate reforms, and in particular to ensure the integration of digital technology in the whole enterprise.”