Abstract
Because the French revenue court concluded in its public report of 1998 that France Télévisions did not manage either to keep its running costs under control, or to develop adapted structure plus investment operations to suit the group strategy, a law was set up on 1st, August 2000 to create a group as a holding company able to play a central role in the steering/management of public TV channels. It turned out to be a success. In five years France Télévisions became France's biggest audiovisual group and 2/5 of French people now watch the group's channels each day. Despite the clear improvement of the company's management illustrated by those positive results, the group redefined its strategy more than three times over the past few years, and the French revenue court now worries about the undergoing weakening of the company taking its 2004-2008 balance sheet into account. This depicts a clear deterioration of the company's financial situation.
