MUMBAI: France has given the nod for an international television news channel to start broadcasting in French by the end of next year. The aim is to spread the country's vision to the world.

Media reports indicate that CFII will carry the values of France and its vision of the world everywhere on the globe.

The idea was introduced and promoted by the French president Jacques Chirac, and it was highlighted in the run up to war in Iraq, due to Paris' opposition to US-led conflict. The French cabinet argues the new French channel would promote a vision of a multipolar world that is not dominated by one superpower, and will put the country at the forefront of the global battle of images.

The new channel, with 240 staff, will initially broadcast to Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and later possibly expand to Asia, the US and South America. The state will fund the channel under an agreement lasting until 2010. Thirty million euros in credits have been set aside in the 2005 budget and €65 million in the 2006 budget.