French cable news to take on CNN and BBC

French cable news to take on CNN and BBC

Chirac promised a "CNN a la francaise" in 2002 and the idea gained impetus amid the controversy over his opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and his determination to defend a "multipolar" world from U.S. cultural dominance.

The success of Arabic news stations such as Al Jazeera has encouraged others to enter a field once dominated by CNN, at the same time as new technology made television cheaper to produce.

Now, in a high-tech office building south of Paris still swarming with builders, the project dubbed France 24 -- in which state-owned broadcaster France Television and commercial television company TF1 have equal stakes -- is nearing launch in early December.

"Diversity, debate, culture, the art of living are going to be the hallmarks of France 24 and that's going to provide a different point of view from the Anglo-Saxon world," said Alain de Pouzilhac, the station's chief executive.

"We're going to emphasize all the differences of the world, in contrast to the Anglo-Saxons who only show a unified vision of the world," he said, adding he hopes France 24 will be an opinion-former to rank with CNN or BBC World within three years.

Under any circumstances, setting up a combined television and Internet operation, potentially reaching over 190 million viewers broadcasting 24 hour news in French and English, with Arabic to follow next year, would be a big undertaking.

With the mutual suspicions fueled by the Iraq war never far from the surface in either the United States or France, however, sensitivities are even higher. Some Arab commentators have also seen the project as French imperialism in disguise.

De Pouzilhac, formerly one of France's most prominent advertising executives as head of Havas, is keen to dispel any notion of hostility to the United States and said he is a big admirer of the professionalism of his U.S. and British rivals.

"It's not anti-American or against the Arab world, or anything like that at all. It's just a different point of view."

Lebanon, west Africa, Iran and rioting in France's own poor suburbs are some of the stories where the difference may be seen most clearly but de Pouzilhac says the station will also be focusing heavily on areas like health and the arts.