France 4 was originally planned to close on 9 August 2020, one day after the initially planned date for the closing ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics. However, in July 2020, just days before its planned closure, the French Government announced that the channel would continue to broadcast for another 12 months, whilst also pushing back the closure of France Ô by a month, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the games to July 2021. France 4 carried school programming during the pandemic, which showed the utility of the channel.