Following the announcement by Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, that he would not be reappointed at the end of his term, which was due to end on November 30, Yves BIGOT submitted his resignation yesterday.
This will take effect on June 30.
Yves Bigot's track record at the helm of TV5 Monde speaks for itself: he has doubled the channel's global distribution (from 212 to 421 million households in 197 countries since 2013) and its audience (from 30 to 62 million weekly viewers in 24 countries). New channels have been created, the free TV5 Monde platform was launched in 2020, and the Principality of Monaco has joined TV5 Monde.
He had also recently proposed that seven African countries become shareholders in TV5Monde, a move that was heavily criticized internally, according to several media outlets and RSF.
Furthermore, as he pointed out in an interview he gave us on the occasion of the publication of the Guide to Audiovisual and Film Production in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa, "TV5 Monde Afrique is by far the most watched of our eight channels (published by TV5 Monde). It is also the channel for which we develop the largest number of specific programs."
Given Africa's importance in TV5 Monde's development model, the person appointed to succeed him or her must, in addition to their knowledge of the media, be highly knowledgeable about the French-speaking world in general and Africa in particular.
The call for applications to appoint his successor was officially launched on the Ministry of Culture's website on May 22 and will close on June 9.
According to La Lettre, three names were circulating even before the call for applications was made official: Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, Arnaud Ngatcha, and Martin Ajari.