INVESTIGATION – Twice, the boss of Free failed to buy the M6 group. Wednesday, auditioned by the media regulator, he goes back to the charge to try this time to delight the TNT frequency that the channel has had for thirty-six years.
“If he wins the game, the explosion will be violent. It is the whole French audiovisual landscape that is imploding., predicts a prominent player in the sector. Taking the role of the stick of dynamite is never to displease the boss of Free. Xavier Niel is in luck. This Wednesday, February 15, auditioned by Arcom, the media regulator, he will have a rare window of opportunity to kick into the television anthill and, why not, win his entry ticket into the PAF.
The opportunity is truly unique: it has never presented itself since 1987, the year of the privatization of TF1 and the arrival of M6 on the hertzian network. On May 5, the authorization to broadcast for the two main private free-to-air DTT channels will come to an end. On several occasions already, these two licenses have been renewed. But that was a mere formality, no one other than the holders of these DTT frequencies, the Bouygues group for TF1 and Bertelsmann for…