A few days after the National Assembly, French senators validated the abolition of the television license fee, on the night of 1is to August 2. This provision was part of the package of measures to support the purchasing power of the French, as part of the amending finance bill for 2022. Amounting to 138 euros in mainland France and 88 euros overseas, this tax made it possible to finance public broadcasting to the tune of 3.2 billion euros (for a total budget of approximately 3.8 billion).
“Emmanuel Macron had already been planning to reform the audiovisual sector for several years”, explains the German weekly The mirror. “In addition to the programs of Radio France and France Télévisions, the license fee [finançait] also the INA, an archive and research institute, France 24 and RFI, media with international distribution, as well as part of the budget of the Franco-German cultural channel Arte.”
The prospect of seeing the fee removed had been causing concern for the management of the binational channel for several weeks. In July, the daily mirror published a joint interview with the French president of Arte, Bruno Patino, and the German vice-president, Peter Weber.
It stated in particular: “It is totally inconceivable to me that this