Since 3:20 CET on 7 April 2008, all France 2 programming has been broadcast in 16:9 widescreen format[1] over the French analogue and digital terrestrial television.

An HD simulcast feed of France 2 has been broadcasting on satellite provider CanalSat since 1 July 2008 and on digital terrestrial television since 30 October 2008.

The present channel is the direct successor of Antenne 2, established under a 1974 law that mandated the breakup of ORTF into seven distinct organisations.

Although the three channels were set up as competitors vying for advertisers, they retained a collective monopoly over television broadcasting in France that was not repealed until 1981.

[6] The breakup of ORTF had been intended to stimulate competition between the public channels but failed in this aim; both TF1 and Antenne 2 came to rely on a diet of popular entertainment shows alongside cheap American imports, seeking to maximise ratings and attract advertisers.

[8] In an effort to save them, a single director-general was appointed to manage both Antenne 2 and FR3 and the two channels merged to form the France Télévisions group.

[9] In 1995, the combined audience share of the two state-owned channels was 41%, with France 2 in particular being heavily dependent on advertising and sponsorship revenues, which comprised 43.8% of its budget by 1996.

The focus on ratings led to strong rivalry with TF1, for instance prompting the two channels to broadcast popular shows and news programmes in the same timeslots.

TF1 and France 2 compete for the same demographics; dramas (including American imports), game shows and light entertainments form the dominant mix on both channels.

[10] From 1975, Antenne 2 was available in Italy (regions of Tuscany, Lazio, Lower Veneto and parts of Lombardy and Liguria) using SECAM and since 1983 using PAL until 2003 when the frequencies were sold to various television networks such as Canale Italia and Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso.

Philippe Rochot, Georges Hansen, Aurel Cornéa and Jean-Louis Normandin were four of many Western hostages held by terrorists during the conflict.

During the opening sequences of Antenne 2 news bulletins, the headlines would be followed by a reminder of the French hostages held in Lebanon, including others such as Michel Seurat and Jean-Paul Kaufman, with names, photos and the length of their captivity.

[26] After the report aired, the Serbian police's criminal department (UKP) conducted a month-long investigation, revealing its findings in May 2013 that parts of the French news story were staged with full knowledge of the two France 2 journalists.

[27] According to the police report, Genauzeau and Mathé arrived in Belgrade where they hired a local media fixer named Aleksandar M. who was employed at a Serbian news agency, giving him the task of finding weapons smugglers willing to go before a camera.