They are for. Officially anyway. Monday, January 24 afternoon, Delphine Ernotte for France Télévisions, Sibyle Veil for Radio France and Bruno Patino for Arte, did not express any concern to the senators at the prospect of seeing the birth before their eyes of a private audiovisual giant born of the absorption of M6 by TF1. “Our problem is not the French players, it’s the American oligopolies”, thus launched Delphine Ernotte, taking up the argument of the two groups concerned. The leader’s reasoning is simple: “If private television is impoverished, so is public service”, she explains to World.
Delphine Ernotte seems to want to make TF1-M6 an opportunity in the form of a shield for France Télévisions, in order to prevent the power in place from making drastic cuts in its budget. Because among the presidential candidates, public broadcasting is a target of choice.
In September 2021, on France 2, Valérie Pécresse argued that the subject of her privatization was not “not taboo”. Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen promise to go through it if they are elected to the presidency of the Republic, on the grounds that it would restore purchasing power to the French. In reality, the two far-right candidates see France Télévisions and Radio France as opponents of their ideas. “They want to stifle any other way of presenting information. Basically, they have understood that the enemy is pluralism”, analyzes the former Minister of Culture Aurélie Filippetti.
Cold sweat
In 2019, Gérald Darmanin, then Minister of Public Accounts, also brandishing the argument of purchasing power, had proposed the abolition of the contribution to public broadcasting, before lowering the amount of 1 euro in 2020 (at 138 euros). It must be said that then, the Elysee Palace did not appreciate the television news of Anne-Sophie Lapix on France 2, considered too severe with regard to power. No one in the sector has forgotten Emmanuel Macron’s statement at the end of December 2017, when he equated public broadcasting with ” a shame “.
As the five-year term ends, the government has not solved the problem of its financing. The housing tax, which is backed by the collection of the fee, is about to disappear. And to date, no other system has been put in place, hence the concerns of Delphine Ernotte. The merger file is therefore an opportunity for it to recall the need for financing “okay” and stable over time, guarantee of independence; it also suggests finding a way to secure certain sports rights, such as that of the Tour de France, for which the public group would not be able to compete.
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