On 7 January 2004, the French government officially launched the process of integration of RFO (France Overseas Network) with the state-owned group France Televisions, with the promise that there would be no job losses at RFO.
The bill turning RFO into a fully-fledged component of France Televisions on the same footing with France 2, France 3 and France 5, will be submitted to the National Assembly in February, and Culture and Communications Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon said that the process of integration should take place by the end of 2004.
According to the government, RFO’s integration in the state-owned group is aimed at sustaining its development. It should enable RFO to ensure greater observance of the territorial continuity of national broadcasts, and to produce more local programmes, while the other networks of the France Televisions group, both national and theme-based, would be able to give a picture of life in the overseas territories.