TV & VIDEO - Sept. 30, 1988

Half of France’s commercial television and radio stations were knocked off the air Thursday, the latest victims of a growing strike by journalists and technicians. The strike, fueled by discontent over huge wage discrepancies between public and private sector broadcast employees, has been spreading since last week from the state-run networks to private broadcasters. Privately run M6 was off the TV air waves, while sports fans in Marseilles, Lyon and Lille were denied early-morning Olympic coverage from Seoul, usually broadcast on private channel TF1. The strike was sparked by state-owned Antenne 2’s controversial decision earlier this month to hire popular news anchor Christine Ockrent for $20,000 a month.