145-528: The Fillon affair (also the Penelope Fillon affair or Penelopegate ) is a political-financial scandal involving immediate family of French politician François Fillon given paid jobs that involved no or very little actual work. The case surfaced during the campaign for the 2017 French presidential election which Fillon, the candidate of the Republicans after winning the primary of the right and centre ,
290-519: A "political committee" planned for the following day, he proposed to assemble a modified campaign team, naming François Baroin, Éric Ciotti , and Luc Chatel , in an attempt to rally support around his candidacy. Immediately after Fillon's appearance, Juppé announced on Twitter that he give a statement to the press in Bordeaux at 10:30 CET the day after. Sources close to Juppé reportedly told L'Obs that he shared his decision not to run with relatives during
435-684: A 30-line mechanical television took place on 14 April 1931. The image rendering was an improvement upon Baird's thanks to the development of the "moving light point" system and the use of a camera with Weiller mirror drums by the engineer René Barthélemy , head of the radio laboratory of the Compagnie desmètres (CdC) of Montrouge. In charge of French broadcasting, the PTT administration carried out some rudimentary television experiments from December 1931 by broadcasting experimental 30 to 45 minute broadcasts at variable times from Monday to Saturday with Baird equipment from
580-515: A Member of Parliament. The management of TF1 was notified about the e-mail by the Ministry for Culture and Communication, whose Minister Christine Albanel is also one of the authors of the HADOPI law. In 2004, Patrick Le Lay, CEO of TF1 made the following statement about the channel's aims: There are many ways to speak about TV, but in a business perspective, let's be realistic: at the basis, TF1's job
725-471: A badge and most lacked an email address, most working in the Palais Bourbon have a badge, and to lack one was extremely uncommon in practice. On 1 February, a week after its initial report, Le Canard enchaîné published revelations that the total sum received by Penelope Fillon in fictitious jobs apparently totaled more than €930,000; with the addition of the period from 1988 to 1990 and 2013, her income as
870-524: A bus equipped for remote reporting in the open air within two weeks, a new television studio and programs broadcast in the evening after dinner. The administrative system of public broadcasting was modified by a decree of 29 July 1939 signed by the President of the Council Édouard Daladier , making French Broadcasting, and therefore the television service attached to it, a State monopoly which ceased to depend on
1015-462: A commercial dispute. However, despite the resumption of encrypted broadcasts within the Canal+ and TNTSAT bouquets, this free-to-air broadcasting continues. LCI is therefore received free of charge in almost all of continental Europe. On 23 November 2024, Sky News reported that CVC Capital Partners , TF1, RedBird Capital Partners , All3Media , Mediawan and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had been linked to
1160-416: A double salary during the summer of 2002, as she was hired by Joulaud's office on 13 July, more than a month before her contract as a parliamentary assistant with her husband expired, on 21 August. Although aides are eligible to collect severance payments, the law does not permit such a high level for parliamentary assistants. An article in the same issue reported that Marie Fillon was simultaneously employed as
1305-599: A full address in Le Mans and the town of Sablé-sur-Sarthe , but without any address within the town; in response to the story, Lévy claimed this the discrepancy occurred because "somebody added an address", affirming that Sablé-sur-Sarthe was the actual location of her employment. Video excerpts of a May 2007 Sunday Telegraph interview with Penelope Fillon surfaced on 2 February in which she claimed that she had "never been his assistant," referring to her husband. The footage aired on Envoyé spécial on France 2 that evening, and
1450-407: A gala session combining excerpts from plays, comic operas, poems, songs and sketches performed by many famous comedians and music-hall artists invited by Béatrice Bretty, and whose numbers were announced at the screen by Suzy Wincker, the first official continuity announcer, on the air since June. The rue de Grenelle studio required 50,000 lux of light to compensate for the insufficient sensitivity of
1595-449: A literary adviser to the Revue des deux Mondes . The absence of evidence of work by Penelope Fillon and her distance from political life led the newspaper to suspect that these jobs were fictitious. The same day, the national financial prosecutor ( Parquet national financier , or PNF) opened a preliminary investigation into embezzlement and misuse of public funds. On 1 February, an article in
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#17328528063871740-427: A minister's wife." Similarly, Christine Kelly , who penned a biography of François Fillon, asserted that she had "never heard that [Penelope] Fillon worked". The PNF ( parquet national financier , or national financial prosecutor's office) initiated a preliminary investigation into possible embezzlement and misuse of public funds the same day. On 26 January, François Fillon appeared on TF1 to respond to allegations of
1885-432: A monthly salary of €5,000, amounting to a total of another €100,000. A preliminary hearing immediately opened. The public outcry around this so-called "Penelopegate" was such that doubts were voiced about François Fillon himself, who was the frontrunner for the 2017 presidential election, with an immediate sharp decline in the opinion polls. On 31 January, new reporting by Le Canard enchaîné found that Penelope Fillon
2030-609: A new parliamentary faction, the Rassemblement-UMP group . In December 2012, Copé agreed to organising elections in 2013, thus putting an end to the crisis. Fillon entered the 2016 The Republicans presidential primary , held on 20 November 2016, and seemed a likely third as late as a week before the vote. In early counting, Fillon emerged as the clear frontrunner, with Alain Juppé in second place. Third place Sarkozy conceded, bringing his support to Fillon, and Fillon and Juppé went into
2175-458: A number of other classic road rallies. Fillon's younger brother Pierre currently serves as the President of the ACO, having been elected in 2013. [REDACTED] Media related to François Fillon at Wikimedia Commons TF1 TF1 ( French: [te ɛf œ̃] ; standing for Télévision Française 1 ) is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group , controlled by
2320-445: A parliamentary assistant now totaled €831,440. In addition, the satirical weekly also revealed that the payments to two of Fillon's children reached nearly €84,000, with €57,084 net for Marie Fillon and €26,651 for Charles Fillon. In a closed-door meeting at his campaign headquarters with Republican parliamentarians the same day, he denounced "an institutional coup d'état" of "the left" and requested that they "hold on for 15 days" to let
2465-476: A parliamentary assistant to her husband from 1988 to 1990, 1998 to 2000, and 2012 to 2013 or to Marc Joulaud from 2002 to 2007, and was unconvinced by the two reviews in the Revue des deux Mondes attributed to Penelope Fillon, tasked three investigative judges to continue pursuing the affair. These three judges were identified on 27 February by Mediapart as Serge Tournaire [ fr ] – known for overseeing
2610-808: A parliamentary assistant while training to become a lawyer, taking the first post in October 2005 and entering the EFB in January 2006. Fillon responded to the claims in a press release by saying that Le Canard conflated the amount his wife collected in November 2013 with reported earnings in August 2007 after the conclusion of her work with Joulaud, and denounced the paper's allegations as "lies", to which editor-in-chief Louis-Marie Horeau [ fr ] replied that "severance payments [with public funds] were dispensed while another hiring
2755-453: A potential takeover bid for ITV plc and a possible break-up of core assets such as ITV Studios and ITVX . Some commentators accuse TF1 of being an excessively populist, commercialised channel. There is a clear emphasis on "light" entertainment programmes over more serious content, and the channel's success is sometimes seen as being founded on the ménagères de moins de 50 ans ( housewives under 50) audience segment. A large proportion of
2900-550: A preliminary investigation into the affair, on 24 February the PNF finally opened a judicial investigation into the "embezzlement of public funds, [...] influence-peddling and failure to comply with transparency obligations of the HATVP" against François Fillon, his wife, two of his children, and Marc Joulaud (who were left unnamed, presumably, to allow for expanding the investigation to other suspects, if necessary). The PNF acted in order to preempt
3045-459: A referendum on registration of the fiscal golden rule in the Constitution. In defending a policy of controlling the deficit, Fillon is in favour of abolishing the wealth tax, which he considers one of the causes of the debt of France. According to him, this tax discourages foreign entrepreneurs. This tax would be offset by the creation of a top slice of income tax to 50%, which would be included in
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#17328528063873190-434: A replacement candidate. Fillon continues his candidacy, despite his promise (given on 26 January on TV) to withdraw from the race if subjected to criminal prosecution. On 23 March, Fillon said on national television that Bienvenue Place Beauvau , a book co-authored by Didier Hassoux of Le Canard enchaîné , suggested President François Hollande ran a shadow cabinet to spread rumours about his opponents. Hassoux denied this
3335-701: A salary upwards of €7,900 during this period. In all, the article claimed that she received €500,000 as a parliamentary aide, in addition to €100,000 as a literary adviser to the Revue des deux Mondes , whose owner, businessman Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière , is a close friend of François Fillon. While deputies in the National Assembly are permitted to employ family members, those are still required to complete legitimate work. Le Canard cited Jeanne Robinson-Behre, an ex-parliamentary assistant to Joulaud who would have been expected to work with Penelope Fillon, as saying "I've never worked with her. [...] I knew her only as
3480-518: A suspended two-year prison sentence for the embezzlement charge, down from three years suspended. The court maintained fines of €375,000 for each of them. In its 22 March 2017 issue, satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné reported that Fillon had introduced a Lebanese billionaire to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a business forum in St. Petersburg in 2015 as part of a $ 50,000 contract for Fillon's 2F Conseil consulting firm. Having lived his whole life in
3625-407: A suspended two-year prison sentence for the embezzlement charge. The court maintained fines of €375,000 for each of them. Fran%C3%A7ois Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon ( French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa ʃaʁl aʁmɑ̃ fijɔ̃] ; born 4 March 1954) is a French retired politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy . He
3770-414: A three-way meeting between Fillon, Juppé and Sarkozy was planned for the following day, but it was cancelled on 7 March because Juppé was no longer interested in remaining involved in the campaign. The same day, Le Canard enchaîné revealed that Fillon had failed to declare to the HATVP a €50,000 loan from Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, the president of Revue des deux Mondes who was questioned by police about
3915-509: A trial lasting almost six months, he was convicted on 20 June 2020. On 29 June 2020, Penelope was also convicted. François was sentenced to five years, while Penelope received a sentence of three years. They both appealled their sentences. The sentences were reduced to four years for François and two years for Penelope by a French appeals court on 9 May 2022. On 25 January 2017, the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné published an article alleging that Penelope Fillon , wife of François Fillon ,
4060-573: A video on demand service. On 20 May 2021, it was announced that TF1 Group, owners of the channel, proposed a merger with Groupe M6, which owns M6 . On 16 September 2022, it was announced that the merger was officially abandoned. Since October 2022, the free DTT channels of the TF1 Group have been accessible free to air via the Astra 1 satellite. This broadcast follows a temporary interruption in encrypted broadcasting to Canal+ and TNTSAT subscribers, following
4205-435: Is helping Coca-Cola , for example, to sell its product. What we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain time. Nothing is more difficult than obtaining this availability. This is where permanent change is located. We must always look out for popular programs, follow trends, surf on tendencies, in a context in which information is speeding up, getting manifold and trivialized. Critics of TF1 also contend that its news coverage
4350-440: Is more liberal than his mentor Philippe Séguin . A few months after taking office as prime minister, he declared that he was "at the head of a state that is bankrupt financially, [...] which for 15 years has been in chronic deficit, [...] that has not voted a balanced budget for 25 years." He then committed publicly to "bring the state budget to balance by the end of the five-year", and reiterated this promise in 2012 and proposed
4495-476: Is no alternative" and adding that "no one today can stop me from being a candidate", insisting that "it is not the party that will decide" the fate of his candidacy. He said that the rally at the Trocadéro cemented his legitimacy, and that though he would have stepped down two months ago if indicted then, it was now too close to the presidential election and it would be unfair to voters of the right if he quit now. With
Fillon affair - Misplaced Pages Continue
4640-534: Is slanted towards supporting right-wing politicians – they were in particular accused of supporting Édouard Balladur in the 1995 presidential elections , and of overstating crime during the 2002 electoral campaign to tilt the balance in favour of former French president Jacques Chirac , who campaigned on a law and order platform . Key figures within TF1 are close friends to some of the most powerful politicians in France, and
4785-598: The 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. His youngest brother, Dominique [ fr ] , is a pianist and jazz musician. Fillon received a baccalauréat in 1972. He then studied at the University of Maine in Le Mans where he received a master's degree in public law in 1976. He subsequently received a master of Advanced Studies ( diplôme d'études approfondies ) in public law from Paris Descartes University . The day after Nicolas Sarkozy became president he appointed Fillon as Prime Minister of France, charging him with
4930-584: The Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part of the TF1 Group of mass media companies, which also includes the news channel LCI . It previously owned the satellite TV provider TPS , which was sold to Canal+ Group . The network is a supporter of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HBBTV) initiative, promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for
5075-530: The Bygmalion affair [ fr ] case involving claims of illegal campaign financing by Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election – Stéphanie Tacheau, and Aude Buresi. On 1 March, Fillon abruptly cancelled a campaign visit to the Paris International Agricultural Show ( Salon de l'agriculture ) without offering an explanation, taking even his own campaign officials by surprise. He
5220-460: The Chirac government [ fr ] decided to privatize one of the three public channels. Although initial reports had suggested Antenne 2 (now France 2), on 14 May the government announced that TF1 was selected. The channel was therefore more apt to confront with competition, but still considered left-leaning by the right-wing majority. In April 1987, the construction conglomerate Bouygues won
5365-459: The Eiffel Tower , and was on air three days a week from 11 am to 11:30 am and 8 pm to 8:30 pm and on Sundays from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. On 4 January 1937, the broadcasting hours were changed such that television programmes were aired from 5 pm until 10 pm on Wednesdays to Fridays, and from 4 pm to 8:30 pm or 9 pm on Saturdays to Tuesdays. Impressed by the sharpness of the 60-line images obtained from
5510-656: The OCLCIFF (Central office for the fight against corruption and financial and fiscal crime) executed a search at the Manoir de Beaucé where François and Penelope Fillon reside in the Sarthe department. This followed a search by the same agency on 2 March 2017 at the Fillons' Paris residence in the 7th arrondissement. On 6 March 2017, the inner circle of Fillon's party had a crisis meeting. Beforehand, Alain Juppé had definitively excluded becoming
5655-404: The Revue des deux Mondes Michel Crépu the same day, seeking to establish what work that Penelope Fillon had completed for the journal. Only "two or maybe three" bylines were attributed to her, Crépu said, also saying that he had seen "no trace" of any work by her that would "resemble [that of] a literary adviser". The HATVP authorized a raid of the offices of the review on 28 January as part of
5800-502: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . Fillon was born on 4 March 1954 in Le Mans , Sarthe, France. His father, Michel, is a civil law notary , while his mother, Anne Soulet Fillon [ fr ] , is a history professor of Basque descent. His younger brother, Pierre [ fr ] is the president of Automobile Club de l'Ouest , responsible for the organization and management of
5945-503: The Scanimate system were also used, created by the American company Robert Abel and Associates with background music composed by Vladimir Cosma . The 1975 TF1 logo was later modified in 1984 and again in 1987. Colour television was first introduced to TF1 on 1 September 1975 when FR3 (now France 3 ) agreed to supply some of its colour programming to TF1, and the conversion to colour on TF1
Fillon affair - Misplaced Pages Continue
6090-402: The 180-line mechanical camera with a double-spiral Nipkow disk rotating at 50 rotations per second. The dissipation of the heat of this very violent lighting was annoying and even dangerous for the artists. This is why a forced-air refrigeration system (temperature and humidity) was installed in the studio to lower its temperature from 55 to 25 °C by means of six aerators. The images filmed in
6235-549: The 1980s, and was eventually liquidated in 1993. TF1, which originally stood for Télévision française 1 (French Television 1), was created on 1 January 1975 when law 74-696 of 7 August 1974, splitting the ORTF into seven separate organisations, came into effect. The name TF1 was a recommendation of the European Broadcasting Union , who demanded the television unit of the former ORTF rebranded as Télévision Française , with
6380-501: The 2012 presidential election, he proposed that each job seeker should be offered vocational training and be forced to accept the employment offered to them after training. Fillon' stances on domestic and social issues are mostly perceived as conservative. As member of the National Assembly, he voted against the equalisation of the age of consent for homosexual relations in 1982, against civil solidarity pacts in 1999, and against
6525-649: The 455-line high-definition equipment manufactured by Thomson for public demonstrations at the 1937 Paris International Arts and Techniques Exhibition, which was then transferred to the Radiovision-PTT studio for testing. Following successful trials of a "high-definition" 455-line electronic television system designed by Thomson-Houston which improved on the 405-line system originally designed by EMI-Marconi, Radio-PTT Vision renamed itself as Radiodiffusion nationale Télévision (RN Télévision) in July 1937. However, broadcasts using
6670-468: The Automobile Club de l'Ouest), later married Penelope Fillon's younger sister, Jane. In January 2017, Le Canard enchaîné published an article in which Penelope Fillon was accused of alleged fictitious employment, as her husband's " assistante parlementaire " for a total salary of €500,000 over eight years on the one hand, and as a "literary adviser" of Revue des deux Mondes on the other, with
6815-452: The CSG. As a presidential candidate, Fillon aims to reduce the public sector and cut 500,000 civil-service jobs. Fillon has been compared to Margaret Thatcher due to his ambition to reduce the size of the state. He says in 2016 that he wants the state healthcare program ( securité sociale ) to work better with fewer payments. Fillon is in favour of increasing the retirement age to 65. During
6960-539: The Eiffel Tower and a definition of 180 lines in the long term, as soon as Barthélemy had finalized his work. One thousand guests of the Minister, personalities, journalists and industrialists flocked to the studio at 103 rue de Grenelle on Friday, 26 April 1935 to attend the first official regular French television broadcast transmitted by radio with a definition of 60 lines3. At 8:15 pm, on the small greenish screen appeared
7105-590: The Fillon residence near Sablé-sur-Sarthe in the midst of the judicial inquiry the same day, just a day after a search at their residence in Paris. On 4 March, Penelope Fillon spoke out for the first time since the publication of the revelations, giving an interview with the Journal du Dimanche in which she described her work as a parliamentary assistant to her husband and Joulaud, and as literary adviser to Revue des deux Mondes ; in
7250-513: The French 455-line transmitter of interest to Telefunken lead to discussions on the rehabilitation and use of this transmitter for television. Opposed to this dismantling, Kurt Hinzmann [ de ] , German television pioneer and former director of the programs of Berlin's Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow television station, who succeeded in convincing the German authorities to continue the broadcast of
7395-464: The French market to the German electrical industry by adopting the German 441-line broadcasting standard developed by Telefunken. Finally, from a military point of view, the repair of this transmitter could allow it to be used as a jammer for enemy planes. By order of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht to the Ministry of PTT on 20 May 1942, the work to restore the transmitter in the Eiffel Tower to service
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#17328528063877540-469: The French people" and acknowledged that he had committed an "error" in employing family members as parliamentary assistants, but appended that he "never broke the law". He also confirmed that his wife was employed as a parliamentary assistant for 15 years with an average monthly salary of €3,677, and argued that "her salary was perfectly justified because her activities were indispensable to my activities as an elected official", adding that everything reported by
7685-540: The Le Mans area and having represented it politically, Fillon is an enthusiastic supporter of the city's 24-hour sportscar race, which he has attended nearly every year since he was a small child. He is a member of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest , which stages the event, and is on the race's organisation committee. He has also competed in the Le Mans Legend historic sportscar races on the full 24-hour circuit and in
7830-513: The Ministry of PTT to pass under the administration of the National French Radio, newly created for this purpose, endowed with an autonomous budget and placed directly under the authority of the President of the council. The rue de Grenelle studio went on annual vacation on 31 July 1939 and never reopened. Radiodiffusion nationale Télévision then only broadcast films, documentaries and news via its Grammont telecine and identified itself with
7975-439: The National Assembly starting in 1982, not 1986 as earlier claimed by François Fillon. The edition of Le Canard enchaîné set for publication on 12 April later revealed that François Fillon secured his then-fiancée a job three times the minimum wage in a Parisian ministry as early as 1980, while he was serving as deputy chief of staff to Minister of Defence Joël Le Theule ; her contract only ended when Fillon's party lost power to
8120-528: The Nipkow disk system continued alongside the new electronic system until 10 April 1938. In July 1938, a decree of the French PTT agency fixed the French terrestrial television standard as transmitting on 455 lines VHF (46 MHz, positive modulation, 25 frames per second), to be adopted throughout France within three years. The adoption of the electronic standard marked the end of mechanical television in France, and
8265-538: The OCLCIFF the following day, reportedly in order to assist authorities in their determination of the nature of Penelope Fillon's work. Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, president of Revue des deux Mondes , was also separately interrogated in connection with the investigation of fictitious employment. This was succeeded by a subsequent search on the floor of the National Assembly on 31 January, seeking employment contracts for Penelope Fillon, who claimed that she no longer had them; it
8410-438: The PNF drop the investigation into their candidate. Lévy reaffirmed that he believed the office was not competent to pursue the investigation because the actions of his client did not fall under its jurisdiction and questioned its neutrality, alleging that there had been "breaches of confidentiality", in addition to a "serious breach of the principle of the separation of powers". On the evening of 13 February, seventeen dissidents of
8555-557: The RTF TV network and became RTF's first relay outside Paris. RTF television services were also extended to French Algeria in 1956, which later became TV1 Algeria upon Algerian independence in 1962. Following the creation of RTF Télévision 2 (now France 2 ) in 1964, the first channel was renamed as Première chaîne de la RTF (First Channel of the RTF). With the creation of the ORTF on 25 July 1964,
8700-614: The Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Christian Estrosi , who urged him to exit the race. In a half-hour speech to a crowd of supporters, he said that, attacked from all sides as a victim of a manhunt, he examined his conscience and admitted he had made a mistake in employing his wife and a second mistake in his hesitation to address the issue. However, he did not remark on the continuation of his candidacy. He then appeared on 20 heures on France 2 that evening, during which he refused to give up his candidacy, saying that "there
8845-571: The Reichspost in Germany, and which was installed by technicians from Berlin. Fernsehsender Paris (Paris-Télévision) moved into a large 3,000-seat ballroom, a remnant of the former Magic-City amusement park closed in 1926, unused since the start of the war. This installation made it possible to start the programs on a regular basis on 7 May 1943 only in telecine, because the work on the V-shaped stage, allowing
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#17328528063878990-441: The Republicans met over dinner, including Georges Fenech, MEP Nadine Morano , and Claude Goasguen to discuss the state of the Fillon campaign with the aim of arriving on a common position before a planned meeting with the party's candidate the following day at which they intended to urge him to "take responsibility". Fenech and the other dissidents, however, backed down the following day on their demand in an open letter to convene
9135-536: The Socialists, after 15 months. The trial on corruption charges began in February 2020. and lasted until late June. Fillon was convicted and sentenced to five years, of which three were suspended. His wife Penelope would also be convicted and given a three year suspended sentence. On 9 May 2022, a French appeals court reduced Fillon's prison sentence shortened to four years with three years suspended. Penelope would be given
9280-653: The advent of electronic television to obtain much better image quality. While the BBC Television Service was able to broadcast the arrival of the President of the French Republic Albert Lebrun in London for his official visit on 21 March 1939, RN Télévision was otherwise unable to film a single image. The Minister of the PTT Alfred Jules-Julien [ fr ] thus promised on 31 March
9425-566: The banks of the River Sarthe 4 km east of the monastery village of Solesmes , near Sablé-sur-Sarthe , and about halfway between Le Mans and Angers . They had lived in various other properties, always in the Sarthe , throughout their marriage, before buying Beaucé in 1993. Fillon has a reputation as an Anglophile . His wife Penelope Kathryn Fillon, née Clarke, was born in Llanover in Wales,
9570-498: The callsign Télé-Cinéma Radiodiffusion nationale. When France entered World War II on 3 September 1939, military authorities ordered the cessation of broadcasts and took control of the Eiffel Tower transmitter. The French hardly noticed it because there were no more than 300 receiving stations throughout the territory, which were also watched in a few rare public places. A few broadcasts were still broadcast episodically for transmitter maintenance purposes, but these were not advertised in
9715-489: The cameras to be moved back for wider shots, had not been completed. It broadcasts in German and French four days a week from 10 am to noon, three days from 3pm to 8pm and every evening from 8:30pm to 10pm, broadcasting variety shows and theater for field hospitals (Kriegslazarett) of the Wehrmacht installed in the Paris region and German residents in Paris (about 1,000 receivers, including a hundred for French viewers). The station
9860-402: The campaign. The cascade of defections followed in subsequent days, with fifteen staffers at campaign headquarters quitting on 2 March, including spokesman Benoist Apparu , treasurer Gilles Boyer , and deputy campaign director Sébastien Lecornu . Fillon's house in Paris was searched that morning on the orders of the three investigative judges, with OCLCIFF officers seizing several documents from
10005-423: The candidate and I will continue until victory" and that the closer to the election it was, the "more scandalous it would be to deprive the right and centre of a candidate." Hoping to sway public opinion in their candidate's favor, the campaign team of Fillon also planned to immediately present all the necessary signatures of elected officials at the opening of the sponsorship collection period. A month after opening
10150-434: The cathode-ray tube control receiver during this broadcast, Georges Mandel gave the PTT technicians and René Barthélemy six months to set up the necessary installations for regular public broadcasting in 180 lines. Two months late, the official inauguration of 180-line television took place on Sunday, 8 December 1935, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm in front of the press, at the Radiovision-PTT studio at 103, rue de Grenelle in Paris, with
10295-500: The channel was renamed again to Première chaîne de l'ORTF (First Channel of the ORTF). This period marked the introduction of commercial advertising on 1 October 1968. On 8 January 1969, the ORTF created a subsidiary company called Régie française de publicité [ fr ] (RFP) to handle all advertising on the ORTF channels. The RFP held a monopoly on French TV advertising until the launch of privately owned TV channels in France in
10440-450: The channels being renamed TF1, TF2 and TF3. However, the fact that the three channels were to be independent caused TF1 to become the only channel to use the proposed Télévision Française name. The rebranding to the new name came into effect on 6 January 1975. TF1 adopted a multicoloured logo and cel-animated idents created by Catherine Chaillet [ fr ] , and from 1976 until 1985, analogue computer-generated idents produced using
10585-427: The company a rudimentary studio at number 93 of the same street. Barthélemy continued his experiments there with a new disc camera from Nipkow which offered much better shooting possibilities than with the previous system. The programs were broadcast in 30 lines on Tuesday and Friday at 5:00 pm by two transmitters, the images by the medium wave transmitter of the higher school of the PTT on the wavelength of 431 meters and
10730-638: The daughter of a solicitor. They met while she was teaching English during her gap year in Le Mans , and they were married in the bride's family church in June 1980. François Fillon has spoken at a wide variety of universities in Britain, notably King's College London and the London School of Economics . On 1 September 2017, Fillon became a partner at asset manager Tikehau Capital. Fillon's younger brother, Pierre, an ophthalmic specialist (and now President of
10875-467: The day in response to rumors that he might replace Fillon as the party's candidate should he decide to drop his bid. Le Canard continued its run of stories on Fillon in its issue of 8 February, revealing that Penelope Fillon collected severance payments totaling €45,000, with €16,000 in August 2002 for the period 1998–2002 and €29,000 in 2013 for seventeen months of employment for which she earned €65,839. The satirical weekly also asserted that she received
11020-565: The diverging views at the UMP after Francois Hollande's victory in the French presidential elections in 2012, Fillon declared his candidacy to become the President of the UMP party. On the day of the vote, both candidates (Fillon and Jean-François Copé ) claimed victory and accused the other of cheating. This led to a major political crisis within the party with votes being recounted twice and Copé finally being declared winner. Fillon threatened to split from UMP unless new elections were organised. He formed
11165-603: The event that the latter decided to quit or was forced out. On 16 February, the PNF issued a statement explaining that the OCLCIFF would be continuing its investigation into the potential embezzlement and misuse of public funds involving François and Penelope Fillon; the same day, Fillon seemingly withdrew his earlier promise that he would terminate his candidacy if placed under formal investigation, saying "even if I am put under investigation, nothing will stop me" in private. In an interview with Le Figaro published on 17 February, he insisted on continuing his campaign, declaring "I am
11310-551: The face of the actress and friend of the minister, Béatrice Bretty, member of the Comédie-Française, with at her side, Jean Toscane, the most famous voice of Radio PTT, and René Barthélemy. Lips and eyes made up in black for the needs of television broadcasting, Miss Bretty recounted of her last tour in Italy with the troupe: "We had a great trip...". These were the first words broadcast on French television. This first television program
11455-429: The fictitious employment case. Charles Fillon, in his hearing at the OCLCIFF, referred to similar transfers to his parents' joint account, worth about 30% of his salary. On the morning of 14 March, Fillon was placed under formal investigation for misuse of public funds, embezzlement, and failure to comply with HATVP disclosure requirements. On 16 March the investigation into Fillon, delegated to three investigative judges,
11600-491: The fictitious employment of his wife, stating that she had "edited my speeches" and "stood in for me at events when I couldn’t be there", also claiming that the reason that she was never seen working in the Palais Bourbon was because "she was never on the front line." In the interview, he also disclosed that he paid two of his children while a Senator for the Sarthe between 2005 and 2007, claiming that he did so for work in their capacity as lawyers. He also pledged to resign if he
11745-487: The following issue of Le Canard enchaîné claimed that, including the years 1988 to 1990 and 2013, the total wages Penelope Fillon collected as a parliamentary assistant were in fact €813,440. In addition, the weekly revealed that two of the couple's children, Charles and Marie Fillon, received €84,000 while employed from 2005 to 2007 as assistants to their father, then a Senator . On 17 February, François Fillon reneged on his previous promise that he would drop his bid if he
11890-772: The frequency of 206 meters by the transmitter of Radio Tour Eiffel. The very large public crowds in front of the receivers installed at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers at 292 rue Saint-Martin, at the National Tourist Office of the Champs-Elysées, at the Salon de la France d'Outre-Mer at the Grand Palais, at the Maison de la Chimie, and at the town hall of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, which simultaneously broadcast
12035-512: The greatest French artists, such as Sacha Guitry, Serge Lifar and Maurice Chevalier, to the cameras of the Radiovision-PTT studio. At that time, there were only about 100 individual television receivers. Grammont carried out its tests in 441 lines, the Compagnie Française de Télévision (association of the CdC and SFR-CSF) in 450 lines and Thomson-Houston in 455 lines . The PTT administration chose
12180-402: The growth of television as an accepted mass medium in France. On 29 May 1949, the first news programme aired on RTF TV, and on 30 July 1949 a television licence fee was introduced. Residents living outside Paris could view RTF TV for the first time in February 1952 when Télé Lille (now known as France 3 Nord-Pas-de-Calais ), a regional broadcaster operating since 10 April 1950, was co-opted into
12325-442: The heavy administration of the PTT for which he was responsible by modernizing, Georges Mandel decided to inaugurate as soon as possible a regular and experimental public television service in France. In March 1935, he went to the CdC to measure the state of progress of the research. René Barthélemy gave him a demonstration of his new mechanical disc camera with 60 lines of definition (25 images per second), his new telecine (of which he
12470-485: The hours and days following the statement, dozens of campaign members, allies, and supporters rescinded their support for Fillon. Bruno Le Maire , former primary candidate and European and international affairs adviser to the campaign, resigned that afternoon, and the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), a centre-right party whose president Jean-Christophe Lagarde backed Juppé in the primary, suspended its participation in
12615-551: The images in 180 lines. Indeed, if Barthélemy's Emyvisor was put on sale at the end of 1935, its price was still exorbitant (8,000 to 10,000 francs at the time, or around 6,000 euros today) and only the privileged few could enjoy television at the time. Robert Jardillier [ fr ] , new PTT Minister of the Popular Front , launched on 24 October 1936 a call for tenders from radio-electric manufacturers in order to provide television with higher definition equipment exploiting
12760-416: The inquiry run its course. In addition, Marc Joulaud, substitute of Fillon in the National Assembly who succeeded him as deputy, testified before investigators in the afternoon to describe the character of Penelope Fillon's work. Increasingly anxious LR deputies, headed by former judge Georges Fenech , expressed concerns about the continued candidacy of Fillon, with some speculating that he could be replaced on
12905-450: The interview was taken out of context. In addition to promising that his lawyers would question the competency of the PNF to carry out the investigation, he lambasted a "media lynching" of his campaign. Noting that there was no "plan B" for the Republicans (LR), and having received millions of votes in the primary of the right, he vowed to maintain his bid for the presidency. His remarks followed Juppé's declaration that "NO means NO" earlier in
13050-480: The justice system", she replied affirmatively. A total of 306 elected officials and members of the Fillon campaign withdrew their support for the candidate by 5 March. Despite this chain of defections, François Fillon remained defiant, planning a rally at the Trocadéro on that afternoon. Many elected officials deplored Fillon's denouncements of the judicial system, including politicians on the right such as President of
13195-507: The late afternoon of 5 March, and he officially announced his abstention from the race on 6 March, saying that "for me, it is too late". He added that Fillon was at a "dead end" with his allegations of political assassination, and lamenting "What a mess!" He also criticized the right turn of the party under Fillon, saying that the party's militants had become "radicalized". The same day, the party's "political committee" rallied behind Fillon, unanimously reaffirming its support for his candidacy, and
13340-568: The legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2013. However, he says he will not ban the same-sex marriage law if elected president. He opposes adoption by same-sex couples. Fillon has stated that he is personally opposed to abortion but would not vote to ban it. Fillon blamed the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana on President Hollande's policies, which he said had failed. Fillon is an advocate of cracking down on Salafism and Muslim Brotherhood -linked groups and has stridently warned against
13485-445: The medium wave transmitter of Radio PTT. The Barthélemy system was officially adopted in preference to that of Baird, due to the greater stability of the images, for the continuation of experimental transmissions in 1932. The Minister of the PTT, Henri Queuille , then authorised the CdC to continue its experiments using the PTT superior school transmitter located at 103 rue de Grenelle in the 15th arrondissement of Paris and assigned
13630-554: The much debated Fillon law on Education . In 2005, Fillon was elected senator for the Sarthe department. His role as a political advisor in Nicolas Sarkozy 's successful race for president led to his becoming prime minister in 2007. Fillon resigned upon Sarkozy's defeat by François Hollande in the 2012 presidential elections . Running on a platform described as conservative, he won the 2016 The Republicans presidential primary , defeating Alain Juppé . Following his victory in
13775-657: The night. The new French Minister of the PTT of the Flandin Government, Georges Mandel , during a visit to the general manager of the British Broadcasting Corporation at the end of 1934, attended a live broadcast of the Epsom Derby on a televisor built by John Logie Baird . Convinced by this demonstration and of the interest of this invention for the future, but also very aware that the ministerial instability must lead him to quickly imprint his mark on
13920-449: The pair's employment from the Senate. In a video posted on social networks in the afternoon, François Fillon insisted that he would maintain his candidacy and called on his supporters to "hold the line", seeking to assuage worries from within his own camp about the maintenance of his candidacy. On 6 February, Fillon held a press conference at his campaign headquarters at which he "apologized to
14065-436: The political bureau of the Republicans. Seeking to calm the waters and recover his base, Fillon requested a lunch with Nicolas Sarkozy – whose many allies were among those rebelling against the candidate – on 15 February. Sarkozy reportedly demanded that one of his allies, François Baroin , be given a prominent position in the Fillon campaign; the former finance minister was often floated as a potential replacement for Fillon in
14210-467: The possibilities offered by the iconoscope and electronic television. Already exploited by the British, Germans and Americans. A test period would enable the best standard to be chosen. The broadcasts became regular from 4 January 1937 with broadcast from 11am to 11:30am and from 8pm to 8:30pm on weekdays and from 5:30pm to 7:30pm on Sundays. The Deputy Secretary General for Broadcasts, Wladimir Porché, brought
14355-461: The potential return of Juppé to replace Fillon as the party's candidate, with Fenech urging elected officials file sponsorships for the ex-primary candidate. Campaign director Patrick Stefanini jumped ship that morning, submitting his letter of resignation Fillon, who accepted it; in it, Stefanini wrote that he was "no longer in the best position to lead your campaign" and that victory was no longer certain, lamenting that "little or nothing" of his work
14500-552: The preliminary investigation. A report in the Journal du Dimanche on 29 January alleged that Fillon drew seven checks totaling €21,000 in public funds using a known legal mechanism while Senator for the Sarthe. In an interview with the paper published in the same issue, he stated that he was a victim of slander, denouncing the accusations leveled at him as a "gross manipulation". Fillon and his spouse were questioned for five hours by police of
14645-491: The press on the issue was "legal and transparent". He said he would not reimburse the payments received by his wife or children, and, saying that he had "nothing to hide", divulged his property holdings. Furthermore, he also contended that British journalist Kim Willsher, who interviewed his wife for the Sunday Telegraph , was "shocked" by the usage of the excerpt on France 2; soon after Fillon's statement, Willsher denied that
14790-578: The press so that the Germans could not use the transmitter signal to locate and bombard Paris. On 6 June 1940, technicians from RN Télévision sabotaged the transmitter to make it unusable by the Germans who were at the gates of Paris. The German occupying forces initially took no interest in the Eiffel Tower transmitter until an order in May 1941, aimed at reducing transmission sites in the occupied zone in order to recover raw materials, and thus recover certain elements of
14935-460: The primary, opinion polls showed Fillon as the frontrunner for the 2017 presidential election . But in March 2017, he was formally charged in an embezzlement investigation in a case that became known as " Penelopegate " due to the involvement of his wife . In April, he finally came third in the first round with 20%, and was therefore excluded from the runoff between the top two finishers. In 2020, Fillon
15080-540: The prior case, saying "I would prepare notes and memos for my husband [...] I also made some sort of local news roundup for him. I represented him at some events. I proofread his speeches." Explaining her work for the review, she said she produced ten notes, of which only two were published; presuming the silence as hostility, she resigned. She also said that she did not know Michel Crépu, and maintained that though her children were also employed by her husband, everything had been legal and declared. Asked if she had "confidence in
15225-564: The programs of the station during the war by proposing its use to entertain and distract the war wounded in hospitals, took up this idea to apply it to the French capital and thus save the Parisian transmitter. He recommended putting the Eiffel Tower transmitter back into service to broadcast a television channel intended to entertain the German soldiers hospitalized in the Kriegslazarette in Paris. In addition, this television channel would open up
15370-449: The promulgation of Article 4 of the law adopted on 16 February 2017 modifying the statute of limitations for numerous criminal offenses such that acts committed more than 12 years before could not be prosecuted; in the Fillon case, this would refer to the period prior to 2005, and by deciding to open a case, the PNF ensured that its investigation could continue. The OCLCIFF, which failed to unearth any tangible proof of work by Fillon's wife as
15515-426: The reception of terrestrial TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface. The government operated the sole television channel in France for 28 years. It was created as Radio-PTT Vision on 26 April 1935, making it among the oldest television stations in the world, and one of the very few prewar television stations to remain in existence to the present day. The first public demonstration of
15660-410: The relationship between Bouygues and the public-sector contracting system often raises suspicions. Immigration and violence are arguably conflated in the channel's news programmes. In addition, it is occasionally alleged that news reports from TF1 tend to ignore issues yielding a bad light on their parent group (Bouygues), while stressing the problems of competitors (such as Vinci SA ). Such criticism
15805-420: The residence by mid-afternoon. Meanwhile, associates of Juppé indicated that he was apparently warming to the idea of stepping in to run if needed, "ready but loyal". Members of Fillon's campaign, as well as supporters, continued to abandon the embattled candidate on 3 March; notable departures included that of spokesmen Thierry Solère and Benoist Apparu . Many of those rescinding their support speculated about
15950-478: The restart, the official resumption of television broadcasts took place with one hour of programming each day. On 20 November 1948, the Secretary of State for Information, François Mitterrand , decreed the adoption of the 819-line high-definition VHF standard, which was in use from 1949 until 1983. Radiodiffusion française was renamed as Radiodiffusion-télévision française (RTF) on 9 February 1949, and thus began
16095-479: The resulting auction for the sale of TF1. On 16 April, its president, Francis Bouygues , presented a check of three billion francs to the government, completing the privatisation of TF1. TF1's current logo was unveiled on 2 February 1990. It launched a news network, La Chaîne Info (LCI), in 1994. The channel was available in Italy alongside LCI on digital terrestrial television from 2004 to December 2006 on Dfree multiplex. In 2005, TF1 launched TF1 Vision,
16240-566: The runoff on 27 November 2016. Juppé conceded to Fillon, pledging his support for him as The Republicans' nominee in the 2017 presidential election . As of November 2016, Fillon was seen as the frontrunner for the presidency against the Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon , Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen . However, revelations of series of political scandals at the end of January shattered his presidential bid, with polls rapidly showing him behind both Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron and out of
16385-472: The runoff. Fillon's visits on the ground attracted protesters who further destabilised his campaign. The news provoked consternation in Germany where Fillon was seen as a serious and trusted candidate. On 23 April 2017, he secured 20.0% of the votes at the first round of the French presidential election, arriving third, and therefore failing to enter the runoff. Fillon has been described as economically liberal and fiscally conservative. For many observers, he
16530-457: The schedule consists of gameshows, sensational documentaries and dubbed versions of TV series. The channel's news service is perceived as consisting of more celebrity news and human-interest stories than its public-sector competitors. On 16 April 2009, the employee responsible for the "Web innovation" department was fired for criticizing the HADOPI law in a private email (on 19 February) sent to
16675-710: The sound by the transmitter of the CdC in Montrouge connected to the studio by a telephone line. These experimental broadcasts only reached a very limited public of amateurs of technical innovation who tinkered with receivers connected to a radio, thus constituting a radiovision receiver. At the same time, the BBC Television Service had been broadcasting an experimental but regular television service since 22 August 1932, with broadcasts taking place Monday to Friday from 11.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., and at night on medium wave on 205 meters after BBC radio programmes closed down for
16820-404: The studio were routed live by a 2,500 meter long telephone cable to a new transmitter designed by SFR-CSF and temporarily located at the north pillar of the Eiffel Tower, from where a feeder connected it to the four 2 kW shortwave transmitting antennas located at the top of the tower 320 meters high and which can be received 100 km around Paris11. The sound was transmitted in medium wave on
16965-507: The studios, leaving the French with a fully operational and among the most efficient television station in the world, which enabled French television to be the first in Europe to resume its broadcasts from the old studio and with the equipment from Fernsehsender Paris, from 1 October 1944 intermittently and in closed circuit test transmissions, because the Americans had administered the Eiffel Tower at
17110-490: The task of forming a new cabinet, which was announced on 18 May 2007. By appointing as Secretary of State André Santini , who had been indicted in the Fondation Hamon affair on charges of corruption, Fillon made the first break since 1992 with the so-called " Balladur jurisprudence ", according to which an indicted governmental personality should resign until the case is closed. On 13 November 2010, Fillon resigned, paving
17255-574: The terms of his employment of Penelope Fillon. The UDI renewed its support for Fillon that evening, albeit only conditionally. Seeking to stabilize his campaign, Fillon appointed a group of Sarkozy allies to his team on 9 March: Christian Jacob and Bruno Retailleau as "campaign coordinators", François Baroin responsible for political unity, and Luc Chatel as spokesman. On 13 March, Le Parisien revealed that investigators discovered suspicious wire transfers made by Marie and Charles Fillon to their father while employed by him, with Marie returning €33,000 of
17400-509: The threat of " Islamic totalitarianism ". He has called for dialogue with Syria under Bashar al-Assad and with the Russian Federation, under Vladimir Putin . Putin has been described as a friend of Fillon, although Fillon himself rejects that description. Fillon lives with his wife, Penelope , and five children, Marie, Charles, Antoine, Édouard and Arnaud, in the 12th-century Manoir de Beaucé, set in 20 acres (8 ha ) of woodland on
17545-463: The ticket by Alain Juppé , who came second in the primary of the right . L'Obs managed to procure the missing employment contracts of Penelope Fillon, revealing that she was supposedly based at the Le Mans offices of Fillon's RPR party. However, local party activists contacted by the publication indicated that, even there, they had never seen her work. The document, however, contained two addresses:
17690-407: The time and prohibited the use of its transmitter until 1 October 1945. Television broadcasts in France resumed on 1 October 1944 under the name Télévision française , and following the creation of Radiodiffusion française on 23 March 1945, the television service was renamed as RDF Télévision française. Following the return of the Eiffel Tower to the French precisely one year (1 October 1945) after
17835-467: The way for a cabinet reshuffle. One day later Sarkozy reappointed Fillon as prime minister, allowing Fillon to formally name a new cabinet. Following the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy to François Hollande in the 2012 presidential election , Fillon resigned on 10 May. Following the inauguration of Hollande as president on 15 May 2012, Jean-Marc Ayrault , Mayor of Nantes , was appointed to succeed Fillon as prime minister. Aiming at building consensus within
17980-412: The €46,000 she was paid (having told investigators as much on 9 February). She explained that these transfers represented a reimbursement for the cost of her marriage on 26 August 2006, but investigators suspected that the payments could have been used to support her father's lifestyle. She also provided fourteen bills, her diary, a badge from the Senate, and evidence of research to investigators tasked with
18125-442: Was actually paid €300,000 more than previously reported, for a total sum of €831,440 for 15 years of her parliamentary assistant work. It also reported that Fillon had paid two of his children €84,000 for little apparent actual work. On 6 February 2017 Fillon held a press conference. He said "It was a mistake and I apologize to the French [people]" but also said that the salary of his wife was "perfectly justified". On 3 March 2017,
18270-455: Was already scheduled... as for the date, even if there was an imprecision, what would that change?" Fillon penned a letter appealing to voters printed the same day in Ouest-France , in which he said he "decided not to give in to intimidation and pressure," reaffirmed that his actions were legal, and again apologized for his employment of relatives. On 9 February, Fillon's lawyers demanded that
18415-399: Was at the time strongly favored to win. The affair began when the 25 January 2017 edition of satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné alleged that Penelope Fillon , wife of François Fillon, received €500,000 between 1998 and 2007 and in 2012 for a no-show job as a parliamentary assistant to first her husband and then his substitute Marc Joulaud . It also claimed that she was paid €100,000 as
18560-522: Was broadcast live until 8:30pm on the 175-meter medium-wave frequency within a radius of 100 km. Radiovision-PTT, the first French television channel, had just been born. Radio-PTT Vision began operations on 26 April 1935 as the first television station in France, using a 30-line mechanical television system based on the Nipkow disk . It was operated by the French PTT agency with a transmitter located atop
18705-532: Was completed in 1977, though the old 819-line analogue network remained entirely black-and-white until it was decommissioned in 1983. Since TF1's privatisation in April 1987, the abbreviation is no longer expanded, so as to avoid confusion with the current public television broadcaster France Télévisions . From 1984 to 1986, the French television landscape evolved significantly with the launch of three private television channels: Canal+ , La Cinq and TV6 . In March 1986,
18850-421: Was converted into a television studio on 17 April 1935 and its bleachers were dismantled to enlarge it. The CdC's 60-line mechanical camera was placed in the adjoining room, behind double-thick insulating glass to mask the sound of the motor spinning the camera disk. This same room also housed the 60-line, 500-watt transmitter designed by the Compagnie des Comptes. The project provided for a short wave transmitter on
18995-544: Was convicted of fraud and misuse of funds, and sentenced to five years in prison (three of them suspended). He has appealed against the sentence. In May 2022, the sentence was shortened to four years in prison (three of them suspended). In December 2021, Fillon was named as a member of the Board of Directors of SIBUR Holding, the largest integrated petrochemical company in Russia. He resigned from this position in February 2022, following
19140-436: Was employed as a parliamentary assistant by her husband from 1998 and 2002 and for six months in 2012 with no evidence that she completed any substantial work, while collecting a monthly salary of €3,900 to €4,600. After her husband's appointment as Minister of Social Affairs in 2002 and later tenure as Minister of National Education , she served as a parliamentary aide to Marc Joulaud , Fillon's substitute, until 2007, earning
19285-407: Was entrusted to the Compagnie des comptes de Montrouge and the German firm Telefunken, following a collaboration agreement between the two companies to jointly build the technical infrastructure of this new television channel. The equipment of the Compagnie des Compteurs being considered uninteresting, Telefunken supplied the new television transmitter to the German standard of 441 lines, recovered from
19430-421: Was extended to "aggravated fraud, forgery, and falsification of records". In particular, the probe seeks to determine whether documents seized during a search of the National Assembly in March were forged in order to corroborate the veracity of Penelope Fillon's work as a parliamentary assistant. The investigation was also expanded into possible influence-peddling related to Fillon's consulting firm 2F Conseil, which
19575-427: Was informed that he was summoned to appear before the judges and likely to be placed under formal investigation – generally a precursor to an eventual indictment – on 15 March, and subsequently held a press conference at which he insisted on remaining in the race, saying "I will not give in, will not surrender, I will not withdraw, I will fight to the end," and decried what he called an act of "political assassination." In
19720-447: Was later reported that she claimed that she did not remember if she even signed such contracts during questioning by investigators. Le Parisien revealed in a piece published the same day that she had neither a parliament badge nor an email address during the period she supposedly served as a parliamentary assistant. Though Antonin Lévy, Fillon's lawyer, maintained that many aides did not have
19865-613: Was left. In addition, the UDI formally withdrew their support for and requested the replacement of Fillon as the candidate of the Republicans. President of the Senate Gérard Larcher and secretary general of the Republicans Bernard Accoyer met Nicolas Sarkozy to "organize very quickly", with the ex-president warning that "this cannot last" but stopping short of demanding that his former PM desist. OCLCIFF investigators searched
20010-415: Was officially inaugurated on 30 September 1943 with the start of live broadcasts. A week before the liberation of Paris , Fernsehsender Paris ceased broadcasting on Saturday 12 August 1944 at 11:30 p.m. On 17 August, the order was given to Hinzmann to blow up the Eiffel Tower's transmitter, which he refused, contenting himself with firing a few symbolic shots into unimportant equipment. The Germans left
20155-488: Was personally placed under investigation. However, on 27 January, it was revealed that both Marie and Charles Fillon were only law students when they were employed by their father during his stint in the Senate, contrary to his earlier statements. Police officers acting on behalf of the OCLCIFF , responsible for the preliminary investigation into the affair, interrogated Fillon biographer Christine Kelly and former editor-in-chief of
20300-546: Was placed under formal investigation and announced he would maintain his candidacy regardless. On 14 March, he was placed under formal investigation for misuse of public funds, embezzlement, and failure to comply with transparency requirements. On 16 March the investigation was extended to "aggravated fraud, forgery, falsification of records" and influence-peddling, as investigators raised concerns that seized documents were forged in order to provide evidence of tangible work by Penelope Fillon. After several years of investigations and
20445-637: Was previously hired by billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, owner of the Revue des deux Mondes , which employed Penelope Fillon. In 2013 de Lacharrière also provided a €50,000 loan to François Fillon, who failed to declare it as legally required. On 24 March, Marc Joulaud, Fillon's former substitute, was formally placed under investigation for embezzlement of public funds. Penelope Fillon was placed under formal investigation for complicity in and concealment of embezzlement and misuse of public funds, as well as aggravated fraud, on 28 March. On 10 April, Mediapart revealed that Penelope Fillon had in fact been paid by
20590-489: Was received by a record audience of 5.4 million viewers. The PNF expanded investigation into the fictitious employment affair to include Fillon's two eldest children the same day to verify the veracity of their work, after Le Canard reported that neither Marie nor Charles Fillon were lawyers at the time their father served in the Senate. The following morning, officers acting for the PNF and authorized by Gérard Larcher retrieved documents relating to their positions and terms of
20735-492: Was the case. On 24 February 2020, Fillon became one of the few prime ministers to ever go on trial. On 29 June 2020, he was convicted of fraud and misuse of funds, and sentenced to five years in prison - three of them suspended. Their lawyers appealed against the sentence and he remains free pending the outcome of the appeal. On 9 May 2022, a French appeals court reduced Fillon's prison sentence shortened to four years with three years suspended. His wife Penelope would be given
20880-451: Was the inventor) with 180 lines, as well as a receiver with 60 cathode ray tube lines; a tube for which the CdC has just launched production. He also informed him of his ongoing work on a 180-line camera. Pressed to carry out his project, the minister granted Barthélemy the means requested for his success. The amphitheater of the PTT superior school, located in the premises of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications at 103 rue de Grenelle,
21025-473: Was the nominee of The Republicans (previously known as the Union for a Popular Movement ), the country's largest centre-right political party, for the 2017 presidential election in which he ranked third in the first round of voting. Fillon became Jean-Pierre Raffarin 's Minister of Labour in 2002 and undertook controversial reforms of the 35-hour working week law and of the French retirement system. In 2004, as Minister of National Education he proposed
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