A public service broadcaster with a mission to promote francophone productions and the French language, TV5 Monde consists of eight generalist cultural channels and two thematic channels (focused on children and the art of living).
Media assets
Television: TV5 Monde
State Media Matrix Typology: Independent State-Funded and State-Managed (ISFM)
Ownership and governance
TV5 was established in 1984 by five public television channels (TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3 from France, Télévision Suisse Romande of Switzerland and the Belgian RTBF). TF1 retired in 1987 after its privatization. Later, other media companies entered TV5.
Now, TV5 Monde is 51% owned by a consortium of state-owned public broadcasters including France Télévisions, Radio télévision suisse (RTS), RTBF, CBC/Radio-Canada (SRC), Télé-Québec, and ARTE France, with the rest in the hands of France Médias Monde, the company that manages France’s international broadcasting services.
The overseeing authority at TV5 Monde is the so-called ministers conference where ministers in charge of TV5 Monde from the countries that fund the station meet (every two years) to decide about the strategic decisions of the chain.
TV5 Monde also has a board of directors consisting of representatives of the national public broadcasters that co-own the station. The President-CEO of France Télévisions is the chair of this board.
Source of funding and budget
TV5 Monde is funded in a proportion of 95% by financing provided by the governments of the five founding parties: 6/9 by France, and 1/9 by each Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Switzerland and Canada (Quebec region accounts for 40% of the Canadian contribution). Since 2015, the French government has used money from the license fee paid by citizens to cover its contribution in TV5 Monde.
In 2019, the financing contributed by France totalled €76.2m. The station had a total budget of €109.3m. The following year, TV5 Monde had a total budget of €112.6m, according to data from the company.
Editorial independence
There is no evidence of (any) government control over TV5 Monde’s editorial output.
The TV5 television network is managed by two companies, TV5MONDE and TV5 Québec Canada. Each of them have full control over their programming, which is a strong guarantee of their editorial independence.
TV5 Monde has a programming committee that is presided by the programming director of the station. It consists of representatives of the programming divisions at TV5 Québec Canada, France Télévisions, Arte France, RTBF, RTS, Radio-Canada, Télé-Québec and CIRTEF (an association of francophone public media).
September 2023