Daniel Bilalian, the director of sport at France Télévisions, has called for a ban to be lifted on advertising on the public-service broadcaster in the evening.
For the past five years, advertising on France Télévisions’ channels has been banned between 20:00pm and 06:00am, with the state providing a subsidy to the broadcaster to offset the loss in revenue.
However, according to French daily newspaper l’Equipe, the state’s subsidy has decreased from €420m ($563m) in 2012 to €115m this year.
Bilalian said that the opportunity to sell advertising in the evening would “generate significant commercial revenues for us.”
He added: “The return of advertising at half-time during sporting events in the evening would be extremely strong given the audiences.”