The (; ORTF; , or French Radio and Television Broadcasting Office) was the national agency charged, between 1964 and 1975, with providing public radio and television in France. All programming, especially news broadcasts, were under strict control of the national government.
History
Background
In 1945, the
provisional French government established a public monopoly on broadcasting with the formation of
Radiodiffusion Française (RDF). This nationalisation of all private radio stations marked the beginning of a new era of state-controlled broadcasting in France. As part of its mandate, the RDF also established a
441-line television station known as ''Télévision française''. This station made use of the frequencies previously utilized by the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
-operated ''Fernsehsender Paris''.
In 1949, the RDF underwent a name change to
Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) in order to reflect the organisation's growing focus on television broadcasting. By the end of the year, the RTF had begun transmitting television signals using the new
819-line system, which represented a significant advancement in the technical capabilities of the medium. This development allowed for the transmission of high-quality television signals and paved the way for the widespread adoption of television in France.
ORTF era
In 1964, the RTF was reformed and renamed into the ORTF. The ORTF aimed to modernise the public broadcasting service in order to better satisfy the needs of the French public in terms of information, culture, education, and entertainment. Despite this goal of modernisation and an expressed commitment to meeting the diverse needs of the public, the ORTF continued to operate under a monopoly.
From the beginning, the public broadcaster experienced fierce competition from the "peripheral stations": French-speaking stations aimed at the French public but transmitting on
longwave from neighbouring countries, such as
Radio Monte Carlo (RMC) from
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
,
Radio Luxembourg (later
RTL) from
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
, and
Europe 1 from Germany (exceptionally, in 1974, RMC was allowed to set up a transmitter on French territory).
In October 1967,
colour television was introduced on the
625-line second channel. In 1968,
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
was introduced on both television channels, although the
'redevance audiovisuelle' (Broadcasting licence fee) remained in place.
ORTF employees participated in the
May 1968 strikes.
In 1970, during a press conference,
Georges Pompidou initiated a will to modernise, affirming that information provided to the ORTF must be free from any outside influence, independent in nature, and impartial in its presentation while stressing that it remains "the voice of France whether we like it or not. "
A
third television channel started broadcasting in December 1972.
Dissolution
The
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
of
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1974 prompted yet another reform. The new liberal administration considered the ORTF to be a relic of Gaullist rule. Furthermore, the ORTF's annual budget had grown to an unsustainable 2.4 billion
francs
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...
per year (approximately €2 billion in 2022), indicative of the organization's overly centralised structure. As a result, on December 31, 1974, law 74-696 (dated August 7, 1974) was implemented, splitting the ORTF into seven successor institutions:
*
Télévision Française 1 (TF1)
*Antenne 2 (now
France 2)
*France Régions 3 (FR3) (now
France 3
France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming.
France 3 is structured as a Region ...
)
*SFP (Société Française de Production) – programme production
*
INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel) – archives
*
TDF (Télédiffusion de France) – transmission
*
Radio France (Société Radio-France) – French national and international radio
The changes however did not go into effect until January 6, 1975. Despite the dissolution of the ORTF, the public broadcasting monopoly continued to exist until 1981.
Today only INA and Radio France exist in their original form from 1975. Both TDF and TF1 were privatised (the latter sold to the
Bouygues
Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...
construction company) in 1987. The operations of Antenne 2 and FR3 were re-merged in the early 1990s, into a single entity known today as
France Télévisions, which still remains under public ownership. SFP was privatized in 2001 and is now a part of Euro Média France.
Logo
The design of the ORTF logo was mostly influenced by the "three ellipses" symbol of its predecessor, with the addition of the letter "O" to create a fourth ellipse. The logo evokes both the concept of
radio waves and an image of an
electron
The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...
, symbolising the
Atomic Age.
The ORTF logo prominently appeared during the startup and closedown sequences of their television channels.
Services
When it was dissolved in 1975, the ORTF operated 3 national radio networks, 23 regional radio stations, and 3 television channels in
Metropolitan France. 13 of the regional radio stations later became stations of the
France Bleu
Ici (; formerly ''France Bleu'' ) is a network of local and regional radio stations in France, part of the national public broadcasting group Radio France. The network has a public service mission to serve local audiences and provides local new ...
radio network. The other 10, each of which were music only stations, became
Fip. It operated an additional 8 radio stations and 7 television stations in the
overseas territories.
Metropolitan France
National radio
*
France Inter
*
France Culture
*
France Musique
Regional radio
* Paris
* Marseille
* Reims
* Lorraine
* Bordeaux
* Lyon
* Côte d'Azur
* Lille
* Toulouse
* Loire-Atlantique
National television
*
1re chaîne de l'ORTF (819-line VHF, monochrome only)
*
2e chaîne de l'ORTF / 2e chaîne couleur (625-line UHF, colour available from October 1, 1967)
*
3e chaîne couleur de l'ORTF (625-line UHF, colour available from launch)
Regional television

The ORTF also operated 11 regional television services that provided programming for all three channels:
* Lille
*
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
*
Marseille Provence
* Lyon
*
Toulouse-Pyrénées
*
Bordeaux Aquitaine
*
Bretagne Loire-Océan
*
Paris Normandie Centre
* Lorraine Champagne
* Limognes-Centre-Ouest
* Bourgogne Franche-Comté
Overseas Territories
Radio
* Radio Saint-Denis
* Radio Saint-Pierre et Miquelon
* Radio Guadeloupe
* Radio Nouméa
* Radio Martinique
* Radio Tahiti
* Radio Guyane
* Radio Comores
Television
* Télé Martinique
* Télé Guadeloupe
* Télé Réunion
*
Télé Tahiti
* Télé Nouméa
* Télé Guyane
* Télé Saint-Pierre et Miquelon
The overseas stations were given to FR3 as part of the dissolution, and today form part of the
La Première network.
Membership of the European Broadcasting Union
In 1950 the ORTF's predecessor, RTF, had been one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...
(EBU). Upon the break-up of the ORTF in 1974, French membership of the EBU was transferred to the transmission company TDF, while TF1 became a second French active member. A2, FR3, and SRF became supplementary active members before eventually becoming full members in 1982. In 1983 the French public broadcasters' membership was transferred to a joint organisation, the Organisme français de radiodiffusion et de télévision (OFRT). Nine years later, the OFRT was succeeded by the Groupement des Radiodiffuseurs Français de l’UER (GRF) which currently holds one of the French memberships of the EBU, alongside Europe 1.
TF1 left the EBU in 2018. Private TV channel
Canal+ served as an additional member between 1984 and 2018.
See also
*
Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, the predecessor organisation
*
Musique concrète, which the ORTF continued to develop
* ''
Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel'', modern-day regulating authorities
*
Groupe TF1, a successor organisation
*
France Télévisions, a successor organisation
*
Orchestre National de France, a symphony orchestra once under the administration of the ORTF
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francaise
History of telecommunications in France
Public broadcasting in France
Defunct television channels in France
Radio in France
State media
Television channels and stations established in 1964
Television channels and stations disestablished in 1975
Television in France
Radio stations established in 1964
Radio stations disestablished in 1975
Defunct mass media in France