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]

France Ô
CountryFrance
Broadcast areaFrance
SloganRegardons autrement
Headquarters3–4, rue Danton
92299 Malakoff, Hauts-de-Seine
Programming
Picture format1080i HDTV (16:9)
Ownership
OwnerFrance Télévisions
Sister channelsFrance 2
France 3
France 4
France 5
History
Launched25 March 1998 (1998-03-25)
Former namesRFO Sat (1998–2004)
Links
Websitefranceo.fr
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital terrestrial televisionChannel 19
Digital terrestrial television in Overseas FranceChannel 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 SwitzerlandChannel 29
Channel 329 (Deutschswizz)
Channel 529 (Ticino)
Kabel Deutschland (Germany)Channel 831 (SD)
Net+Channel 61
Satellite
Canal+Channel 94
Bis TélévisionsChannel 29
TNTSATChannel 19
OSN (Middle East)Channel 703
Canal+ RéunionChannel 41
Canal+ CalédonieChannel 18
Canal+ CaraïbesChannel 51
IPTV
French IPTVChannel 19
SunriseChannel 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
  1. "En Polynésie, la suppression annoncée de France Ô ne passe pas". Le Monde (in French). 18 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  2. Desroses, Sandrine (1 March 2005). "France Ô remplace RFO Sat". Retrieved 9 April 2008.
  3. "France Ô a fait ses adieux". ozap.com (in French). Retrieved 2 September 2020.
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