La Sept was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 broadcaster

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 and production company created on 23 February 1986 to develop cultural and educational programming for transmission via the TDF 1 satellite

Communications satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...

. In French, the word "sept" means the number seven; it not only represents the seventh network to have signed on in France, but it also serves as an acronym, for Société d'édition de programmes de télévision (Television Programme Production Corporation).

History

In 1985, Georges Fillioud, French Minister of Transport, charged Pierre Desgraupes with creating programs for one or more of the five channels of the high power satellite TDF 1 launched in 1988. On 27 February 1986, La Société d'édition de programmes de télévision was created by Bernard Faivre d'Arcier, cultural adviser to the Prime Minister Laurent Fabius

Laurent Fabius

Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic.-Early life:...

 and began to develop a stock of programmes. It was chaired by historian George Duby.

In March 1989, the full name of La Sept changed, becoming La Société européenne de programmes de télévision (European Television Programme Corporation). In April 1989, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel

Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel

The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel is a French institution, created in 1989, whose role is to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television, including through eventual censorship...

 granted permission to broadcast on one of TDF 1's channels, and it began transmission on 14 May 1989. The station broadcast three hours and 30 minutes of programmes per day, each programme broadcast twice. In June, an agreement was reached to broadcast La Sept's programmes on cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

, and on 3 February 1990, FR3 gave the La Sept a window on their terrestrial broadcast channel every Saturday from 15:00 to midnight.

On 30 May 1992, La Sept lost its role of broadcaster to Arte

Arte

Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...

, a Franco

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

-German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 EEIG

European economic interest grouping

A European Economic Interest Grouping is a type of legal entity created on 1985-07-25 under European Community Council Regulation 2137/85...

 group created on 2 October 1990. On 27 September 1993 it changed its name to Sept-ARTE, and became ARTE France on 1 August 2000.

Soundtrack

Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman

Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...

 released a promotional album, La Sept

La Sept (album)

La Sept is a 1989 promotional album of music for La Sept written by Michael Nyman and performed by the Michael Nyman Band. It is Nyman's fourteenth release. Gabrielle Lester makes her debut with the band on this album...

, containing music recorded for the network.