TF1 and M6 warn: the announced merger of the two groups is threatened by the competition authority, they announced on Tuesday July 26. Within the institution, the investigation services responsible for examining the file have submitted their report. This does not prejudge the final decision but it “is not favorable”, worried, during the presentation of the results of M6, Nicolas de Tavernost, chairman and managing director (CEO) of the group and designated boss of the future together. The report is from “significant competition concerns” and suggests measures that “would not make it possible to build a coherent industrial project”said the leader.
In the process, the M6 and Bouygues groups (owner of TF1) published an identical press release: “The investigation services consider that the transaction raises significant competition concerns (in particular in the advertising market)they wrote. The nature and extent of the remedies required in the investigation report would render the parties’ project irrelevant, which, in this case, would abandon it. »
TF1 and M6 give no details on the remedies proposed in the document. Their statement aims to inform the stock markets and put some pressure on policy makers.
Between them, 41% of television audiences
The challenge of the TF1-M6 merger is due to the importance of the two players on the French market. Between them, they represent 41% of television audiences. The constitution of such a heavyweight raises questions on the pluralism of information, on the purchase of series or program rights, but also, and above all, on the television advertising market, where it would hold 75 % market share.
To circumvent the problem, the two flagships of the audiovisual sector are asking the competition authority to review its definition of “relevant market” to analyze the merger: they propose to add to television advertising that displayed on the Internet (while excluding sponsored links on the Google search engine). Their market share would then drop to around 42%, according to our estimates.
All the reasoning in favor of the merger is based on the need to grow to face competition from digital giants foreign to global activity: Meta (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and Google (YouTube), but also Amazon, group present through its Prime Video broadcasting platform and increasingly active in advertising. TF1 and M6 are also alarmed by the proliferation of subscription video-on-demand services: the leader Netflix, but also AppleTV+, etc.
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