French MPs have voted to scrap the country’s annual €138 licence fee.
Last month staff at a number of French TV and radio stations walked out on strike in protest at plans to abolish the licence fee and fund public media broadcasters through general taxation.
However, this weekend French MPs voted for the plans to go ahead.
The scrapping of the fee was one of president Emmanuel Macron’s key pledges during his reelection campaign.
Gabriel Attal, minister of public accounts, said the decision to axe the licence fee would “not jeopardise the funding or the independence of public broadcasting.
“We are very attached to our public broadcasting system,” he added.
The licence fee provides funding for France Télévisions (France 2, France 3, France 5), Radio France (France Inter, France Info, France Culture, France Musique) Arte, and international broadcasters such as France 24 and RFI.
