France’s CSA Approves Broadcast License for Mandarin TV

On November 8, 2021, Mandarin TV (歐視TV+), a French-Chinese bilingual TV channel, held a launch ceremony in Paris with the Chinese embassy to celebrate its license from the French national broadcasting regulator, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), to extend its broadcasts across Europe under the brand “Europe TV.” The outlet reported that it would use satellite transponder capacity leased from the European satellite operator Eutelsat. Addressing the ceremony by video, China’s ambassador to France, Lu Shaye (盧沙野), described Mandarin TV as the first Chinese broadcaster in France to hold a CSA license. The license and the network’s European expansion, he said, advanced “friendship” between the two countries. According to China News Service, some 300 attendees were present at the launch, including French political and business figures, Chinese and French media representatives, and members of the Chinese diaspora in France. Station director Chen Chen (陳晨) said the expanded signal would reach an estimated 135 million households, with future programming to target European countries with sizable Chinese communities, including Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany.