France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest and has entered the competition 60 times since their debut in the very first contest in 1956. France is one of only seven countries to be present at the very first contest and has only been absent from two contests in its history, missing the 1974 (due to the death of President Pompidou) and 1982 (TF1 withdrawing as broadcaster) contests. Despite appearing in the Contest for over 55 years, France has never taken last place until 2014 after accumulating only two points. However, the country has never received Nul Points, making it the only country out of the Big Five without this distinction.
France has gone through a number of broadcasters that presented Eurovision to the French. From 1956 to 1964, RTF was the French broadcaster. ORTF took over from RTF in 1965 and showed Eurovision until 1973. TF1 took over from ORTF from 1975 to 1981, when they withdrew in 1982 citing the contest as "a monument to drivel". Antenne 2 (now France 2) took over from TF1 in 1983 and its current incarnation, france.tv (France Télévisions), is the current French broadcaster from 1992.
With the introduction of the semi-final in 2004, France 4 (as of 2021 twinning with Culturebox), from 2005 presents the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals. France 3 have now stopped broadcasting Eurovision as of August 2014 with France 2 continuing to organize a selection for the participant song and present the grand final.
France is one of the only countries not to have performed the majority of their songs entirely in English, however only 7 entries have been performed partially in that language. 2 songs have been performed either fully or partially in Corsican, 2 partially in Spanish, two fully in Breton, and one partially in Haitian Creole.