Radio France International

In common with much of Europe, France has an efficient state-funded broadcasting service. In mainland France radio and television broadcasting comes under two separate authorities; Radio France and Radio France International (RFI). Both have their headquarters and main studios on Avenue President Kennedy in Paris. The former is responsible for regional and national broadcasting, leaving RFI as the programming authority for international broadcasting. RFI ranks with VOA, the BBC-WS and Deutsche Welle as one of the world's major influential broadcasters on the short waves. Underpinning these two broadcasters is the state-owned transmission authority TeleDiffusion de France (TDF), which is responsible for all engineering activities including the maintenance and operation of all radio and television transmitting stations and links within France plus a few over seas. This arrangement of having a separate authority to run the trans mission networks does seem to offer many advantages, and is one that some other countries could adopt and benefit from. Where the same authority is responsible for both the programming and transmission engineering, given the importance of the former, the engineering side can become a secondary consideration.