French Senate agrees Emmanuel Macron’s plan to scrap TV licence fee

Decision causes controversy amid concern over funding for public service broadcasting

France is to scrap its television licence fee after the Senate approved Emmanuel Macron's election promise to cut the public broadcasting tax in order to boost households' spending power.

But during a heated Senate debate that ran into the early hours of Tuesday morning, opponents on the left raised what they called important concerns over the future funding and independence of public television and radio, warning that public broadcasting risked being weakened.