Nicolas Sarkozy Bans Ads From French State TV

One of Nicolas Sarkozy's most visible, and most controversial, attempts to transform the French way of life will take effect from 8pm tonight. Advertising will vanish from prime-time on all state-owned television channels as part of an attempt by the President to create, in his own words, a public television service to "rival the quality of the BBC".

The abolition of prime-time commercials - part of a much bigger revolution in the French broadcast landscape - has provoked strikes by television journalists and a torrent of insults and allegations which transcend the usual political boundaries of right and left.

M. Sarkozy's critics allege that his true motive is to transfer part of the shrinking pot of advertising revenue to the privately-owned television channels. They also claim another part of his reform - the direct nomination of the boss of state-owned France Télévisions by the Elysée Palace - is a reversion to the bad, and dreary, old days of politically controlled French television.

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