France 5 () is a French
free-to-air public television channel, part of the
France Télévisions group. Principally featuring educational programming, the channel's motto is ''la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir'' (the knowledge network). In contrast to the group's two main channels,
France 2 and
France 3, France 5 concentrates almost exclusively on factual programming, documentaries, and discussions – 3,925 hours of documentaries were broadcast in 2003
– with fiction confined to one primetime slot of around two hours' duration on Monday evenings.
France 5 airs 24 hours a day. Earlier – before completion of the switchover to
digital broadcasting on 29 November 2011 – the channel's
analogue frequencies had carried the programmes of the Franco-German cultural channel
Arte between 19.00 each evening and 3.00 the following morning.
History
It was launched on 28 March 1994 as a temporary channel under the name Télé emploi (Teleworking), more than one year after France's first privately owned free television network,
La Cinq
La Cinq () was France's first privately owned free-to-air television network. Created by politician Jérôme Seydoux and Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, the network broadcast from 1985 to 1992.
The contract for France's fifth terrest ...
, suffered a financial collapse and ceased operations on 12 April 1992. La Cinquième started broadcasting on 13 December 1994 with a mix of small educational programs, during the hours not used by
Arte (which launched less than 2 months after La Cinq's closure).
La Cinquième was integrated in the new
France Télévisions public holding in 2000, which gathered Antenne 2 (since renamed
France 2) and FR3 (France Régions 3, since renamed
France 3); it would be rebranded as France 5 on 7 January 2002. France 5 broadcasting hours have been extended to 24 hours a day, initially available only on cable and satellite, and since spring 2005 on air within the new digital broadcasting multiplex "
R1" network that supports all national public TV channels. Analogue transmitters were switched off in 2011.
Logos
La Cinquième 1999.svg, Logo from 16 October 1999 till 7 January 2002
France-5-Logo.svg, Logo from 7 January 2002 till 7 April 2008
France 5 logo.png, Logo from 7 April 2008 till 29 January 2018
France 5 HD.svg, France 5 HD logo, 2011-2018
France 5 - logo 2018.svg, Logo from 29 January 2018
France 5 2018.svg, On-screen logo from 29 January 2018
Subsidiary
* La Cinquième Développement - former company, active from 1995 to 2001, wholly owned subsidiary of La Cinquième, responsible for managing telephone services,
Minitel,
Internet,
Teletext, and market a selection of programs of the chain on all media. These services were taken over by
France Télévisions subsidiaries at the end of 2000.
See also
*
List of documentary channels
References
External links
Official Site
{{Authority control
05
French-language television stations
Television stations in France
Television channels and stations established in 1994
Educational and instructional television channels
1994 establishments in France