France Ô
France Ô (pronounced [fʁɑ̃s o]) was a French free-to-air television channel featuring programming from the French overseas departments and collectivities in Metropolitan France. It was part of the France Télévisions group. Its overseas counterpart is Outre-Mer 1ère.[1]
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Country | France |
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Broadcast area | France |
Slogan | Regardons autrement |
Headquarters | 3–4, rue Danton 92299 Malakoff, Hauts-de-Seine |
Programming | |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV (16:9) |
Ownership | |
Owner | France Télévisions |
Sister channels | France 2 France 3 France 4 France 5 |
History | |
Launched | 25 March 1998 |
Former names | RFO Sat (1998–2004) |
Links | |
Website | franceo |
Availability | |
Terrestrial | |
Digital terrestrial television | Channel 19 |
Digital terrestrial television in Overseas France | Channel 6 or 7 or 8 |
Cable | |
Telenet (Belgium) | Channel 29 (Wallonia & Brussels) Channel 158 (Flanders) |
Ziggo (Netherlands) | TV Française Ziggo App Channel 7 |
Unitymedia (Germany) | Channel 443 (SD) |
UPC Switzerland | Channel 29 Channel 329 (Deutschswizz) Channel 529 (Ticino) |
Kabel Deutschland (Germany) | Channel 831 (SD) |
Net+ | Channel 61 |
Satellite | |
Canal+ | Channel 94 |
Bis Télévisions | Channel 29 |
TNTSAT | Channel 19 |
OSN (Middle East) | Channel 703 |
Canal+ Réunion | Channel 41 |
Canal+ Calédonie | Channel 18 |
Canal+ Caraïbes | Channel 51 |
IPTV | |
French IPTV | Channel 19 |
Sunrise | Channel 8 |
The channel was launched in 1998 as RFO Sat by Jean-Marie Cavada, then-president of RFO, and initially broadcast for only 9 hours per day. It was re-branded as France Ô on 25 February 2005 after the reunification of RFO with France Télévisions. The "O" stands for Outre-mer (overseas); the circumflex, which is considered an accent in French grammar, was used to emphasize that the channel was open to diverse accents and dialects, as well as to ensure that the name was not read as France 0 ("France zero")[2].
The channel became available in overseas territories in November 2010, replacing the RFO-operated Tempo, and was launched in DTT nationally the same year.
In July 2018 the French government announced the closure of France Ô due to declining viewership. The ceasing of broadcast was scheduled for 9 August 2020, in time for the climax of the 2020 Summer Olympics, but was later changed to 24 August due to scheduling issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the games being initially delayed to 2021. The last programme broadcast on the channel was a repeat of the concert L'Outre-mer fait son Olympia 2019.[3]
See also
References
- "En Polynésie, la suppression annoncée de France Ô ne passe pas". Le Monde (in French). 18 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- Desroses, Sandrine (1 March 2005). "France Ô remplace RFO Sat". Retrieved 9 April 2008.
- "France Ô a fait ses adieux". ozap.com (in French). Retrieved 2 September 2020.
External links
- Official website (in French)