French PSB to get €473m compensation

France’s audiovisual budget for 2009 confirmed an additional €473 million to be poured into France Télévisions and Radio France to compensate for the progressive advertising ban.

On France Télévisions, prime-time programming will be ad-less as of January 5 while public radio group Radio France is going to change its advertising rules. Out of the €473 million, France Télévisions will get €450 million, as already announced.

Besides compensation, France Télévisions’ 2009 budget will be raised by 2.46% to reach €2.039 billion compared with €1.99 billion in 2008. French-German cultural channel Arte will get €232 million, up four per cent compared to this year and INA €86 million (up 3.6%). Radio France group will be granted €560 million in 2009, which is a 3.9% growth.