EC agrees to French TV subsidy

On Tuesday, the The European Commission endorsed a $644 million subsidy promised to pubic broadcaster France Televisions this year as compensation for lost revenue following a primetime advertising ban. But payments in future will depend on an in-depth investigation announced at the same time. The Commission is particularly concerned about taxes introduced to fund the subsidy and possible over-compensation for the broadcaster's public service costs up to 2011/12. One of the taxes is drawn on ad revenue at France's major private broadcasters, which was expected to go up following the ban. Instead, their income has fallen as the ad market has dried up.