In this return to school, tension is at its peak within the two major French television groups. Whether in Boulogne (Hauts-de-Seine), in the TF1 tower, or not far from there, at M6, in Neuilly, the teams are refining speeches and arguments before the big oral before the Competition Authority. Monday September 5 and Tuesday September 6, Martin Bouygues, for TF1, and Thomas Rabe, the boss of Bertelsmann, owner of the M6 group, will have to convince the members of the college to let them carry out the marriage of the century of French audiovisual, announced on the 17 May 2021, and which should give birth to a group weighing more than 70% of TV advertising revenue and 35% of the audience. Better than anyone, they know that the game is far from won.
Friday September 2, Canal+ gave an idea of the level of animosity of their opponents. The Vivendi subsidiary, which will also be auditioned, cut the broadcast of the TF1 group’s channels on its boxes, depriving the front page of 12% to 15% of its audience. Reason invoked: TF1 would claim to renew its distribution contract, which expired on August 31, a prohibitive increase of 50%. At TF1, we deny this figure and we recall having resigned similar distribution contracts in 2020 with Iliad, Orange or Molotov, so many players reluctant to give him gifts. Unless the subsidiary of Vivendi instrumentalizes its subscribers to put pressure on the Authority, by letting him think that TF1 has questionable competitive practices.
Injunctions
Havas, another subsidiary of Vivendi, Iliad (whose founder, Xavier Niel, is a shareholder of the World individually), the Syndicate of stream program producers (Le Spect) or the Union des Marques, which represents advertisers, will have the opportunity to say all the bad things they think about this marriage. The college will also receive France Télévisions, favorable to the project, Médiamétrie, Netflix, the Pathé group.
At the end of these hearings, the Autorité may purely and simply prohibit the operation, issue injunctions (“Marriage is possible on such conditions”), or open a new thread about commitments. The final decision will be taken no later than the week of October 15.
In five years, the time spent in front of the small screen has declined by around twenty minutes a day, according to Médiamétrie
“If we miss this operation, it will be a collective failure. Because she is useful for everyone. Today, 80% of the programs consumed on our channels are national. On US platforms, they are 80% foreignrecalls Nicolas de Tavernost, in well-oiled rhetoric. Since we notified the operation, a lot of things have happened. TikTok has become the first TV channel in the United Kingdom, Amazon has acquired the rights to Roland-Garros, Netflix and Disney will start advertising. It’s dizzying. »
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