The Ministry of Culture’s budget for 2007 was €3.2 billion .

The financing of cultural activities costs some €12.6 billion , half provided by the State and half by local authorities.

 

On average, households spend €1,385 a year on culture, leisure activities, sports and games.

Newspapers

 

27% of French people read a daily newspaper. There are 10 national newspapers and 109 regional papers (dailies and weeklies). Total annual circulation is 4.7 billion.

Since 2002, larger cities have been distributing several free dailies. “Metro,” distributed in Paris, has a readership of more than one million people..

Books

 

About 60,000 books are published each year; half are new works and half are reprints. Approximately 1500 active publishing houses exist as of 2007. In 2006, 627.8 million copies of books were printed, of which 406.4 million were new publications and 221.4 – were reprints. Publishers’ annual net sales totaled €2.9 billion in 2006.

Periodicals

 

Of the top 100 periodicals, eight have a circulation of over one million and ten print over 500,000 copies.

 

With 460 copies sold for every 1,000 residents, France ranks first in the world for magazine readership. Over 97 percent of all French people read at least one magazine monthly and 58.9 percent of them do this each day, a "world record" according to the results of a 2006 study by the French research organization AEMP.

Television

 

Watching television remains a favorite leisure activity of the French, with an average of 3 hours 24 minutes per person per day. 82% of French people watch television daily. France enjoys over 130 television channels:

• Five national public channels: France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5 (educational channel) and France ô (first multicultural French channel)

• Arte (Franco-German cultural channel)

• France 24, an international news and current affairs channel. It is broadcasted in French, English and Arabic.

• Three national private channels: TF1, M6 and Canal Plus (a paid-subscription channel with 6.4 million subscribers in France and 7 million abroad).

• Over 20 national and local cable channels (40% of households are connected to a cable network). 7.5% of households subscribe to specific cable channels.

• Multichannel satellite packages (Canal Satellite, TPS).

• TV5 and Canal France International (CFI), are the two television channels in France’s external radio and television network.

 

The number of of households connected to TNT at the end of 2006 was 6 millions (5 millions for cable network and ADSL.)

 

www.tv5.org

www.france24.org

Radio

 

Radio France is the umbrella company for the country’s public service radio stations: France Inter, France Info (24-hour news), France Culture, France Bleu, France Musiques and FIP.

 

The private sector encompasses mainstream stations such as RTL (France’s most popular radio station), Europe 1 and Radio Monte Carlo as well as a host of music, special interest, community and regional stations broadcasting on FM.

 

Radio France International (RFI), which has 44 million listeners worldwide, RMC-Moyen Orient, which targets the Middle-East, and Medi 1, which targets North African audiences, form France’s overseas radio broadcasting network.

 

www.rfi.fr

Information technology and multimedia

 

Computers are considered to be mainly a professional tool and are used as such by 80% of the French. However, an increasing proportion of French households owns a computer. In 2007 it was reported that 55% of the French population has home access to a computer, and 46% are connected to the internet (80% with an ADSL broadcast).

 

The French have rapidly taken to the Internet as a new way to access knowledge, with 54% of people over 14 years of age using the internet throughout schools, workplaces and homes. 37% of French people have access to the internet in their home.

 

Internet use in France has grown swiftly and noticeably in a few years. Every institution, media, government department and business has its own website and users can enjoy websites of all kinds (sports, education, services, films, etc.). Finally, the most visited sites are portal sites and ISP websites such as France Telecom’s Wanadoo.

Cinema

 

France, which invented the cinematograph in 1895, is still very active in this sector. 203 films were produced in 2006, placing France second worldwide for film investment.

 

In 2007, 178.14 million movie tickets were purchased in France. 62.5% of the French population goes to the cinema at least once a year, and 33% at least once a month. With a network numbering over 2,143 cinemas housing - 140 of which are of multiplex type, France is among the countries with the densest cinema coverage.

Music and dance

 

France is the home of some 28,841 dramatic artists and dancers, 16,200 musicians and singers, 250 music, opera and dance festivals.

The country also boasts 7,078 variety performers. In addition, amateur performers are increasing in number as formal training in the performing art has developed apace (more than 5,100 institutions specialize in music alone).

Theater

 

A total audience of 8 million is drawn to some 50,000 performances put on by theatres, national drama centers, other subsidized playhouses and private theatres. In 2005, 10% of the French population went to the theatre at least once. Well-known theatres can be found throughout Paris and other cities, not to mention the activity of world-renowned festivals such as Avignon. Over a thousand independent theatre companies have sprung up in recent years.

Museums and monuments

 

The Louvre, the Chateau de Versailles, Beaubourg and the Musée d’Orsay alone welcome 15 million people annually. Most cities outside Paris have at least one museum. In addition, more than 1,500 historic buildings are open to the public (eight million visitors a year), with the Eiffel Tower the most popular attraction with 6 million visitors a year. Moreover, some 38,000 buildings are classified as historic monuments and as such are protected by the Ministry of Culture.

Sport

 

Participation in athletic activities has grown rapidly in recent years.

More than 10 million people are registered with sports federations. Soccer and tennis have the largest enrollment. Judo, pétanque, horse riding, badminton and golf have also had notable success in recent years. In addition, adventurous outdoor activities such as mountain biking, hiking, climbing, hang-gliding and canoeing have garnered increasing numbers of fans.

Cultural festivals

 

The Internet Festival, Heritage Days, Music Festival, the literature festival, Lire en Fête, and Science Week are only a few of all the cultural and recreational events in which the French love to take part, and whose success is growing every year:

- on the Heritage Days, historic monuments (ministries, embassies, firms, banks…) usually closed to the public open their doors.

- The aim of Science Week is to inform the public about developments in science and their implications for society.

- Focusing on books and reading, Lire en Fête organizes meetings with writers, writers’ workshops and short story competitions and introduces visitors to various professions within the publishing industry.

- Finally, the Internet Festival raises public awareness about the information society.