Stars Back Fight to Save Tv Channel

Staff at France's pay television station Canal+ were joined by show business stars yesterday in a campaign to save the innovative channel, which is threatened by a row which has high-level political and financial repercussions.

Journalists and production workers who briefly seized control of the station the previous night in support of their sacked boss, Pierre Lescure, protested outside the Paris headquarters of the station's owner, Vivendi-Universal.

Staff interrupted live programming on Tuesday evening to applaud Mr Lescure, who appeared before them, fighting back tears and blowing farewell kisses.

One writer of the channel's popular satirical puppet show, Les Guignols, launched into an on-air denunciation of the Vivendi chairman, Jean-Marie Messier, before station managers pulled the plug and switched to a weather forecast.

The French-US media giant is accused of trying to curb the network's editorial independence, particularly its derision of politicians, and to end its role as the chief backer of French feature films.

But the affair is also a personal battle to unseat Mr Messier, one of the country's most powerful businessmen, whom Mr Lescure said operated only by diktat.

The station's unions yesterday ruled out a strike, but staff, led by popular presenters such as Antoine de Caunes, have arranged a protest picnic for the weekend which will be attended by Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Kassovitz and other stars.

The staff's decision not to strike is linked to their plans to continue live broadcasts attacking Mr Messier.

Today, the broadcasting watchdog, CSA, will summon Vivendi's chairman to a meeting to warn him that Canal+ could lose its licence if it fails to respect its contractual role as the financier of most French films - 115 last year. Mr Messier has said that protection for French films is dead.

The station staff's immediate worry is that he intends to run down Canal+ after his appointment of Xavier Couture, the number three at the dominant commercial network, TF 1, to replace Mr Lescure. The move is seen as the first stage of a merger that would curb the network's place as broadcasting's leading political satirist.

With 4.6 million subscribers, Canal+ has maintained a biting image since it was set up under the late Socialist president François Mitterrand. It shook up a complacent broadcasting scene with its British-inspired political satire, recent feature films and a dose of late night pornography. Its independent news programmes also served as an antidote to the prudent bulletins of commercial and state rivals.

Mr Lescure, who has run station policy for the past 18 years, hinted at support for his sacking from the higher echelons of the Gaullist RPR party, where Vivendi's chief once held a senior post. The Canal+ portrayal of Jacques Chirac as " super menteur " (super liar) in the current election campaign has angered the president's entourage, who privately expressed satisfaction that Mr Lescure had been ousted.

The station's heavily satirical Spitting Image-style puppets are particularly cruel to Mr Chirac, the subject of continued references to allegations of corruption.

Mr Messier will have to face Vivendi shareholders next week to explain heavy losses which have cut 40% off its share price in weeks. He blames mismanagement at Canal+ for much of the deficit.