One-Day Strike Over Commercials Affects French TV

“Six unions representing 11,000 staffers at France Televisions and its shared affils France 24 and TV5 Monde networks plus about 4,000 employees at public radio stations walked out in protest over government plans to ban advertising from public TV channels — worth an estimated $1.16 billion a year — by Jan. 1. President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised to make up the funding shortfall.”