Benoît Lafon

France 3, a state institution: the French model of regional television

French regional television gradually developed since the 1960s, not from the regions themselves, but from the capital, Paris. Television appeared in France with only one channel RTF (Radiodiffusion Télévision Française), and the creation of regional television stations was decided by the government. As such, regional television in France developed in three stages that intersect with French political history: the 1960s and the era of Gaullism; the 1970s and liberalization; and finally the 1980s which saw the stabilization of a private/public dual model. Across each historical period, as I will argue, the centralist model of organization within France permanently marked the development of French regional television.