France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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| France | |
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| Member station | France 3 |
| National selection events | L'Eurovision |
| Appearances | 49 |
| First appearance | 1956 |
| Best result | 1st, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977 |
| Worst result | 24th, 1998 |
| External links | |
| France 3 page | |
| France's page at Eurovision.tv | |
Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) (from 1956 to 1964), ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion et Télévision Française) (from 1965 to 1974) and TF1 (from 1975 to 1981) was the French broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest from 1956 until 1981. TF1 organised both a national song contest to select a French participant song and presentation of the actual Contest.
In 1982 TF1 declined to enter the Eurovision Song Contest (along with Italy and Greece) calling the programme 'A monument to drivel - a mediocrity'.
Public reaction meant that Antenne 2 (later renamed France 2) would instead participate for France from the 1983 song contest, organising both a national final to select a participant song and presentation of the Contest. However, in later years the national final was abandoned, with an announcement by the television station of the participant song and singer each year.
The sister television channel France 3 took over participation for France from the 1999 song contest, due to the fact that France 2 that year had to broadcast a rugby match instead of the Eurovision Song Contest. France 3 took over the job organizing a national final but only for two years. France 3 is still the broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest, but chose the French song internally from 2001 to 2004, and came back to national final since 2005.
With the introduction of the semi-final in 2004 France 4 (part of France Télévisions) presents the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final, with France 3 continuing to organise a national selection for the participant song and present the Eurovision Song Contest final.
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[edit] Facts
France has won the Eurovision Song Contest five times (in 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, and 1977) and has hosted the song contest three times (1959, 1961, and 1978). In 1963 RTF decided not to host due to a lack of funds and the honor went to the United Kingdom and the BBC. Since there were four winners in 1969, there was a draw to select the host for 1970, the honor went to the Netherlands.
France Télévisions participation in the Song Contest has produced no wins and few successes. However, in 1991 France finished with the same number of points as eventual winner Sweden, but lost the victory because of tiebreak rules.
[edit] Recent History
In the past 10 years, France has experienced a severe decline in terms of performance in the Eurovision Song Contest and the country has had a series of humiliating results: 18th (1996), 24th (1998), 19th (1999), 23rd (2000), 18th (2003), 15th (2004), 23rd (2005) and 22nd (2006 & 2007). However, France's second-best result to date (apart from winning) was in 2001 when the country ranked 4th with famed Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier and was followed in 2002 with Sandrine François who ranked 5th.
Most of the French entries have been sung by amateur singers (Virginie Pouchain, who represented France in 2006, is a hairdresser in life) or unknown artists. Consequently most of the French people do not consider the Eurovision Song Contest as the prime showcase for talented musicians and vocalists.
[edit] Results
[edit] Voting history
Since the introduction of the televote in 1998, France has frequently awarded relatively high marks to Turkey, Portugal, Israel, and now, Armenia; countries with large diasporas in France:
- 1998 : Israel - 12 points; Portugal - 10 points
- 1999 : Portugal - 12 points (the only points for Portugal) ; Israel - 10 points
- 2000 : Turkey - 12 points ; Israel - 6 points (ending with 7 points)
- 2001 : Portugal - 12 points; Israel - 10 points
- 2002 : Israel - 10 points
- 2003 : Turkey - 10 points
- 2004 : Turkey - 12 points
- 2005 : Turkey - 12 points; Israel - 10 points
- 2006 : Turkey - 12 points; Armenia - 10 points
- 2007 : Turkey - 12 points; Armenia - 10 points
- 2008 : Armenia - 12 points; Turkey - 10 points; Portugal - 8 points.
[edit] Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 |  Cannes |
Palais Des Festivals | Jacqueline Joubert |
| 1961 | Cannes |
Palais Des Festivals | Jacqueline Joubert |
| 1978 | Paris |
Palais des Congrès | Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone |
[edit] External links
- www.eurovision.tv (official)
- French Eurovision site (unofficial)
- French website (unofficial)
- Video of song "L'amour a la Française"
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