France to enter TV news fray
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France’s government gave the green light Wednesday for an international TV news channel to start broadcasting in French by the end of next year, with the aim of spreading the country’s vision to the world.
The brainchild of President Jacques Chirac, the 24-hour news channel is expected to beam into homes, hotels and newsrooms in much the same way as U.S.-based CNN, Britain’s BBC World and Qatar’s Arabic-language al-Jazeera.
“France must ... be on the front line in the global battle of TV pictures,” a spokesman quoted Chirac as telling the cabinet, which approved the establishment of a company to run the French International News Channel.
The channel, which has been approved by the European Commission, is intended to broadcast initially to Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and aims to expand later to Asia, the U.S. and South America.
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