C'est si bon TV. English is the rule in France.

Partly in response to the prevailing economic recession, and partly due to new marketing demands, French broadcasters and independent producers are becoming "picky" in their approach to future projects. This translates to mostly productions that appeal to the international market, and require a level of financing that has to be shared among various co-production partners. In the end it all comes down to maintaining a foothold in the international arena while bowing to the idiosyncratic nature of the French market.

French television is a palette of unusual circumstances. It is passing through a stage where it has established a sort of balance between public and commercial television. Jacques Dercourt, general manager of Telecip, said that public television has currently proven that it has the potential to compete with commercial television. "What we wish is that politicians use their wisdom to defend public television, without changing everything for political reasons." Merry Mullings, of Canal Plus, hopes that "the various broadcasting entities complement each other and that not too much competition is introduced. "As we've seen in the UK they tried to implement an open-market strategy for the last three years that has proven to be a total fiasco. I hope the same won't happen in France."

Canal Plus, France's pay-TV service, is expanding, branching out into new areas of production, distribution, and cable and satellite transmission. Recently it has invested FF20million for 15 per cent of Expand images, a major new audiovisual group. At MIP-TV Canal Plus will present two new animation series produced by its affiliate Ellipse, a large package of TV movies that have been co-produced in the United States and various documentary projects from its subsidiary Doc Star. Canal Plus also will be looking to acquire world rights for international programs in English.

Marathon Productions, a company that specializes in documentaries and drama, is another French enterprises that is looking at international developments. General manager Olivier Bremond strives to select and invest in programs that will also guarantee a certain degree of entertainment.

At MIP-TV Marathon will offer a selection of documentaries and action-adventure series. Marathon will be highlighting three 52 minute documentary films: Condor, Wild Dogs and Elephants. The series include The Challengers, an action-adventure show co-produced with TF1; Little Smiles, a children's documentary and Animal Rescue. Marathon is also in the process of completing photography on several other documentaries, The Dragons of Komodo, Wild Boars and a series titled my Wildlife.

Albert Barille, President of Procidis will introduce at MIP-TV his new animation series Once Upon a Time...The Great Discoverers.

This entertaining animation series explains to children now different things, from the very beginning of time to the present, were discovered or invented. This series follows a similar format to Procidis' previous series once Upon a Time...The Human Body.

Albert Barille will be celebrating his over 30 years at MIP He looks back at those early years with nostalgia and wonders what television is coming to: "Years ago, when television first started, we had the impression that we were pioneers in a new frontier and we would create a better world, especially for children. Nowadays, however, I realize that there is little interest in a good product; what is important is a product that sells." Albert Barille believes in producing, children's programs that entertain as well as educate. But he doesn't consider himself a teacher, "because being a teacher nowadays is an abstraction."

Telecip will be coming to MIP-TV not just to sell, but to co-produce, and in part, to observe the development in various international markets. Paravision will be handling their distribution. Telecip's Jacques Dercourt, explained that "we are producers and we have no marketing strategy; what we have is experience in co-production, be it in France or abroad."

Jacques Dercourt and Roland Gritti, president of Telecip, will present, their latest project at MIP-TV, Alexandra, a mini-series which won the Silver prize at the Monte Carlo Television Festival. Jacques Dercourt will also introduce a package of four episodes of an anthology series which Telecip is in the process of completing. This series, called 24 Hours to Survive, consists of four episodes Fils d'un Autre, Un Taxi la Nuit, Une Partie en Trop and L'inconnue de Belfast that fall into the category of movies of the week. Two additional episodes to this anthology that are in development, Thandi and L'ombre du Soir, will be completed in the fall.

In association with Belle Productions, Telecip is also in the process of developing a mini-series of three episodes of 90 minutes called the The Masters of Bread - the saga of a baker family in the 1930's. Belle Productions will also present a move of the week by Joyce Bunuel called Twelve Mortals.

Other projects in development include Honour of a Woman, a TV movie which will be directed by Giorgio Ferrara and co-produced with Italy's RAI DUE; a documentary series titled The Time of Empires which analyzes the French and the British past empires. and a dramatic series called The Defense has the Bench.

When it come to animation, IDDH is said to excel in the number of international co-production projects that have been completed. These have established IDDH as one of the major suppliers and co producers of animation series. In fact, IDDH has a long-standing relationship with many international companies, especially in the US. Currently IDDH is interested in establishing new co-production links with other countries, specifically the Germany and the U.K.

This year at MIP-TV IDDH will present Arabian Nights, a new animation series which is in the process of being completed. Also presented will be the animation series Back to the Future in co-production with Universal.

IDDH is also planning to launch live-action fiction projects. Recently, in association with France's SFP, it created two affiliates - one called Eurotoons, which will invest in and co-produce animation projects with non-french partners, and the other L'Arc Productions, for international drama productions.

IDDH's Marie-Laure Hebrard explained that "we have a strategy of vertical integration where we plan to integrate all the steps of production and post-production. Also, we will soon open an animation studio on the outskirts of Paris. Our strategy is to grow."

France 2 and 3 will present at MIP-TV: Brigitte Bardot Sings, Special Correspondent, and The Formula One Saga, a documentary series on Formula 1. This year, five films, eight TV dramas, and eighteen documentary programs in which France 2 and 3 have participated as co-producers have won awards.

With regard to distribution,france 2 and 3 have appointed Fox Lorber as their distributor for the USA and Southern Star for South-Africa, South-East Asia and Australia.

At MIP-TV, TF1 will organize a special screening for its new animation series Spirou and Fantasio. The first two episodes will be shown - the rest are in the process of being completed. Also TF1 will present a documentary series of six episodes of 52 minutes each. The series is titled Atlantide.

For Benoit Runel, who heads TF1's international Distribution Development, "TF1 has taken the stance that it is not so much quantity which we are interested in, but rather quality, even if this means that we have to focus on costly products."

Overall, French producers and broadcasters are optimistic about MIP-TV. Whether or not this is mere speculation is to be seen as the market gets under way. After all, as one analyst once said, "television generates speculation, and speculation generates programming."