La Sept was a French

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid ...

and production company created on 23 February 1986 to develop cultural and educational programming for transmission via the

TDF 1 TDF 1 or TDF-1 was a French communications satellite which was to have been operated by Télévision de France (France Télécom). It was intended to be used to provide television broadcast services to Europe, however it failed before entering ...

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

. In French, the word "sept" means the number seven; it not only represents the seventh network to have signed on in France, but it also serves as a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

, for ''Société d'édition de programmes de télévision'' (Television Programme Production Corporation).

History

In 1985, Georges Fillioud, French Minister of Transport, charged Pierre Desgraupes with creating programmes for one or more of the five channels of the high power satellite TDF 1 launched in 1988. On 27 February 1986, La Société d'édition de programmes de télévision was created by Bernard Faivre d'Arcier, cultural adviser to the Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and began to develop a stock of programmes. It was chaired by historian George Duby. In March 1989, the full name of La Sept changed, becoming ''La Société européenne de programmes de télévision'' (European Television Programme Corporation). In April 1989, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel granted permission to broadcast on one of TDF 1's channels, and it began transmission on 14 May 1989. The station broadcast three hours and 30 minutes of programmes per day, each programme broadcast twice. In June, an agreement was reached to broadcast La Sept's programmes on cable television, and on 3 February 1990,

FR3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

gave the La Sept a window on their terrestrial broadcast channel every Saturday from 15:00 to midnight. On 30 May 1992, La Sept lost its role of broadcaster to

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

, a Franco-German EEIG group created on 2 October 1990. On 27 September 1993 it changed its name to Sept-ARTE, and became ARTE France on 1 August 2000.

Soundtrack

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Gre ...

released a promotional album, '' La Sept'', containing music recorded for the network.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sept Defunct French television channels Television channels and stations established in 1986 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1992 1986 establishments in France 1992 disestablishments in France Mass media in Paris