 Final logo, used from 2018 until 2020. | |
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | France |
| Headquarters | 3–4, rue Danton 92299Malakoff,Hauts-de-Seine |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (16:9) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | France Télévisions |
| Sister channels | France 2 France 3 France 4 France 5 France Info |
| History | |
| Launched | 25 February 2005; 20 years ago (2005-02-25) |
| Replaced | RFO Sat (1998–2005) |
| Closed | 24 August 2020; 5 years ago (2020-08-24) |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Digital terrestrial television | Channel 19 |
| Digital terrestrial television in Overseas France | Channel 6 or 7 or 8 |
France Ô (pronounced[fʁɑ̃so]) was a Frenchfree-to-air television channel featuring programming from the Frenchoverseas departments andcollectivities inMetropolitan France. It was part of theFrance Télévisions group. It was a national counterpart of the localOutre-Mer 1ère networks.[1]
The channel was launched in 1998 asRFO Sat byJean-Marie Cavada, then-president ofRFO, and initially broadcast for only 9 hours per day. On 28 May, TPS started carrying the channel.[2] It was re-branded as France Ô on 25 February 2005 after the reunification of RFO withFrance Télévisions. The "O" stands forOutre-mer (overseas); thecircumflex, which is considered anaccent 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 asFrance 0 ("France zero").[3] Simultaneously, the channel increased from a nine-hour operation to 24 hours a day.[4]
The channel became available in overseas territories in November 2010, replacing the RFO-operated Tempo, and was launched onDTT 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 theclosing ceremony of the2020 Summer Olympics, but was later pushed to 24 August due to scheduling issues caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the games beingdelayed to 2021. The last programme broadcast on the channel was a repeat of the concertL'Outre-mer fait sonOlympia 2019. After this, the channel only broadcast a loop of commercials promoting a new France Télévisions portal for overseas territories, known as "Portail des Outre-mer La 1ère", in addition to other overseas-themed programs on other France Télévisions channels. Its signal was permanently cut off on 2 September.[5][6]
| Terrestrial digital (TNT) |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France Télévisions | |||||
| Groupe TF1 | |||||
| Groupe M6 | |||||
| Canal+ |
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| RMC BFM |
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| Mediawan Thematics | |||||
| Comcast | |||||
| Walt Disney Company | |||||
| Warner Bros. Discovery | |||||
| Paramount Skydance | |||||
| Media holding companies | |||||
| Lists | |||||
| Defunct |
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