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Saint Pierre and Miquelon La Première (television)

Saint Pierre and Miquelon La Première, or SPM La Première, (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃-pjɛre-mikəlõ la pʁəmjɛʁ], lit. 'Saint Pierre and Miquelon the First'), is an La Première station in Saint-Pierre, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, France, serving the Saint Pierre and Miquelon archipelago (channel 1, FQN call sign). It is a local French public television channel from France Télévisions. It is also the only local channel in this French overseas territory, as no other channel exists in the archipelago.

In 2020, the channel's total budget is 11.9 million euros and it employs 85.5 full-time staff, including 19 journalists.[1]

La Première network logo.

The channel has also been available in Canada by satellite via Shaw Direct (channel no. 782)[2] and by cable on the digital cable networks of Videotron (channel no. 50) and Cogeco (channel no. 203) since 1998, despite opposition from the private Quebec network TVA.[3]

As of July 10, 2010, it is no longer available on the Bell Satellite TV satellite package (channel 147), following a unilateral commercial decision.

History

Television was born in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon on April 20, 1967, with the first broadcasts by the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF). The station's technicians and journalists had to cope with the archipelago's capricious weather conditions, and were given very little resources to do so.

Following the break-up of the ORTF on December 31, 1974, and the creation of the new national program company France Régions 3 (FR3), which controls all regional radio and TV channels, the station became FR3 Saint Pierre and Miquelon on January 6, 1975, and switched to color.

On December 31, 1982, FR3 Saint Pierre and Miquelon changed its name to RFO Saint Pierre and Miquelon, following the creation of the national programming company RFO (Radio Télévision Française d'Outre-Mer) by transferring FR3's overseas activities. Television advertising was authorized on February 1, 1984.

From 1988 to 2010, a second terrestrial television channel, RFO 2, is broadcast. RFO Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon was then renamed RFO 1. The station was managed by journalist Alain Quintrie from 1989.

Télé Saint Pierre and Miquelon was finally created on February 1, 1999, when RFO was transformed into Réseau France Outre-mer. The channel has a decentralized bureau in Miquelon.

In addition to TV5 Québec Canada, Télé Saint Pierre and Miquelon also enables French television programs to reach North America, and acts as a relay between the French-speaking populations of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec and New Brunswick and the French of the archipelago. For this reason, on May 20, 2010, the CBC/Radio-Canada and France Télévisions signed an exchange agreement between the local stations of CBAFT-DT (Radio-Canada Télévision Acadie, branded as ICI Acadie) and RFO Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to promote each of the territories of these two very close communities. This partnership is already in place in practice, as Saint Pierre and Miquelon La Première regularly broadcasts Le Téléjournal Acadie on its airwaves, and CBAFT-DT is already present in SPM Telecom's cable channel line-up.

Audiovisual reform law no. 2004-669 of July 9, 2004 integrates the program company Réseau France Outre-mer into the public audiovisual group France Télévisions, to which Télé Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon now belongs. On October 12, 2010, its chairman, Rémy Pflimlin, announced that Réseau France Outre-mer would be renamed Outre-Mer 1re network to coincide with the launch of DTT in the French overseas territories. All the network's TV channels changed their names on November 30, 2010, when DTT went live, and Télé Saint Pierre and Miquelon became Saint Pierre and Miquelon 1ère. The name change refers to the channel's leading position in its broadcasting territory, as well as its top position on the remote control and its numbering in line with the other France Télévisions Group channels. On January 1, 2018, following a lawsuit by the cable channel Paris Première, owned by Groupe M6, Saint Pierre and Miquelon 1re became Saint Pierre and Miquelon La Première.[4]

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première moves to high definition (HD) on satellite on January 15, 2020 and on DTT on September 8, 2020.[5][6]

Corporate identity

The logo of the Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française (ORTF) Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is made up of the four letters of the acronym placed horizontally on three ellipses, with the letter “O” at its center forming the fourth ellipse, evoking radio waves, the solar system or the path of an electron in a closed universe, below which is inscribed the word Television. The opening and closing callsigns of ORTF Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon animate a tangle of ellipses on a starry background, the first arranged to form the channel's logo, the second retracting to form a disappearing star, like an upside-down big bang.[7][8]

On January 6, 1975, like all FR3 regional stations, FR3 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon adopted the new look of the third national channel, whose call sign featured the nine overseas stations and mainland France, with music composed by Francis Lai.[9]

Following its creation on December 31, 1982, the new national program company RFO adopted its own visual identity, highlighting its global dimension in its logo and the technological advance of its satellite broadcasting in its on-air opening. The logo changed again in 1993, taking its tripartite rectangular shape from that of TF1, but adopting three new colors - green for nature, orange for the earth and the sun, and blue for the sea - which would remain the channel's until 2005. On February 1, 1999, with the creation of country channels, Télé Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon was given a customized look to showcase its landscapes.[10][11]

On March 23, 2005, like RFO, Télé Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon adopted the global identity of the France Télévisions group, which it joined in the summer of 2004, using the same color code as the France Ô channel, orange and white, but arranged in two trapezoids. For its transition to DTT on November 30, 2010, the channel was renamed “1re” in reference to its leading position in its broadcasting territory, and adopted the same visual identity as the other France Télévisions Group channels, with a yellow trapezoid referring to the sun in the French overseas territories. The logo was changed again in early 2018.[12]

Organisation

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première is the television arm of the Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première community media center, part of France Télévisions' La Première network.

Managers

Regional Directors:

  • Alain Quintrie: 1989 - ?
  • Jean-François Moënnan: ? - 04/09/2005
  • Laurence Mayerfeld: 05/09/2005 - 09/2008
  • Gérard Christian Hoarau: 09/2008 - 01/2010
  • Jean-Jacques Agostini: 02/2010 06/2012
  • Yves Rambeau: 08/2012
  • Gilles Derouet: 02/2020-[13]

Program Directors:

  • Jean-Philippe Lemee: 2003 - 31/01/2005
  • Jean-Jacques Agostini
  • Gilles Dérouet

Editors-in-chief:

  • Albert-Max Briand: 1988 - 1990
  • Jacques Barret: 1992 - 1995
  • Laurence Mayerfeld
  • Gonzague de La Bourdonnaye: 2004-2005
  • Muriel Tauzia
  • Phillippe Sans: 2023-[14]

Budget

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première has a budget of 7.5 million euros, paid for by France Télévisions, over 90% of which comes from the licence fee and French government contributions to France Télévisions. Like all channels in the public broadcasting group, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première is authorized to broadcast advertising between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., from which it also derives part of its resources, capped at 10% so as not to destroy competition.

Headquarters

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première's head office and television and radio studios are located in the Zazpiak building at 14 rue Gloanec in Saint-Pierre.

Logo of ICI Radio-Canada Acadie (CBAFT-DT).

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première's missions are to produce local programs and to forge cooperative links with Canadian television networks, in particular ICI Radio-Canada Télé, and internationally through magazine co-productions and France Ô.

Shows

  • Le Journal: a daily twenty-five-minute French-language newscast presented by the company's journalists, broadcast every evening at 8:00 pm and featuring the main local news stories, as well as a summary of national and international events.
  • Le Journal de l'Acadie: rebroadcast of ICI Radio-Canada Acadie's Téléjournal Acadie, Monday to Friday at midnight.
  • À la une: debate program on social issues presented by Claire Arrossaména.
  • Pô d'doute: program devoted to youth.
  • Le Roi Du Bocal: 26-minute show presented by Annaïg Morazé. Two contestants face off in this general knowledge game (questions of all kinds and questions about the Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon archipelago).

Broadcast

For 44 years, the public television channel was broadcast on the analog VHF and UHF SÉCAM K' network via three TDF transmitters, all of which were switched off at around 10 a.m. on September 27, 2011, the date of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon's definitive switchover to all-digital terrestrial broadcasting.

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première is broadcast in the territorial collectivity of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon on the first channel of DTT multiplex ROM1 via three TDF transmitters (Saint-Pierre-Cap à l'Aigle on channel 37 and Phare de Galantry on channel 35, and Miquelon-Langlade-Pointe au Cheval on channel 41) at UHF PAL MPEG-4 standard and in 16:9 format in 1080i (HD). Initially scheduled for November 30, 2010, digital terrestrial broadcasting of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première had to be postponed to early 2011 to enable the implementation of a Viaccess signal encryption system, so that Canadian cable operators could not take over the France Télévisions and Arte channels without the agreement of the rights holders. To receive DTT, TV sets and adapters must have a slot for a CI or CI+ standard Viaccess card reader, which must include VIACCESS 3.0 decoding software. These readers are available on the island in a package including the ROM1 card (Réseau Outre-mer 1 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon) and Freebox TV.

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon La Première is also broadcast on SPM Telecom's cable network.

The channel has also been available in Canada by satellite via Shaw Direct (channel no. 782) and by cable on the digital cable networks of Videotron (channel no. 50) and Cogeco (channel no. 203) since 1998, despite opposition from the private Quebec network TVA. As of July 10, 2010, it is no longer available on the Bell Satellite TV satellite package (channel 147), following a unilateral commercial decision.[15]

The channel broadcasts in HD only on DTT and satellite, and in SD on other channels.

Notes and references

  1. ^ IEDOM (2021). "Rapport annuel économique Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon 2021" (PDF).
  2. ^ Shaw Direct (January 2025). "GRILLE DE CHAÎNES NATIONALE (ORDRE NUMÉRIQUE)" (PDF). shawdirect.ca.
  3. ^ Richard, Constance. "La télévision au Canada : consommation et distribution". francecanadaculture (in French). Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  4. ^ "Les chaînes Outremer 1ère deviendront Outremer la 1ère en 2018". FXG Paris Caraîbe. 21 September 2017.
  5. ^ [dead link‍]
  6. ^ "Les chaînes France Télévisions passent en HD sur la TNT en Outre-mer". Martinique la 1ère. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  7. ^ [dead link‍]
  8. ^ Indicatif de fermeture d'antenne de l'ORTF Saint-Pierre et Miquelon de 1964 à 1975 on YouTube.
  9. ^ [dead link‍]
  10. ^ Indicatif d'ouverture d'antenne de RFO 1 de 1993 à 1997 on YouTube.
  11. ^ "Indicatif d'ouverture d'antenne de Télé Saint-Pierre et Miquelon de 1999 à 2005" (video). Lenodal.
  12. ^ [dead link‍]
  13. ^ l'Audiovisuel, La lettre de (2020-02-05). "France TV : plusieurs mouvements au sein du pôle outre-mer". La lettre de l'audiovisuel (in French). Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  14. ^ Niculai, Ioan (2023-01-20). "France Télévisions : Philippe Sans nommé rédacteur en chef de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon La 1ère | média+" (in French). Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  15. ^ "Décision CRTC 98-18". Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes. 30 January 1998.

See also