It is an earthquake in the audiovisual world.
And coincidence, the evening of the broadcast of "Married at first sight" on M6.
According to information from our colleagues at Le Figaro and Le Point, TF1 is preparing to merge with its rival.
Information confirmed by the M6 group this Monday evening to AFP.
After weeks of rumors, and proposals from Altice, NRJ or even businessman Xavier Niel, the Bouygues group would finally recover 30% of the shares of M6, from which the German Bertelsmann is preparing to free himself.
The latter, who wanted to sell the French group for 3 billion euros, would retain 16%.
The rest of the shares would be listed on the stock exchange.
A sharing which aims above all to reassure the competition authority.
Because it is about to have to render in the coming months a judgment on the constitution of a juggernaut of the private audio-visual one in France.
A consolidation widely desired by Nicolas de Tavernost, the boss of the M6 group, for several months to face Netflix, Amazon and other Disney and their significant growth in the French audiovisual landscape.
Far from being acquired
And precisely, this same Nicolas de Tavernost will have an important role in this merger. The co-founder of Six will become the CEO of this new TF1-M6 group. His colleague from the front page, Gilles Pélisson, will for his part become deputy managing director within Bouygues, in charge of media and development, once the merger is completed. And therefore the natural interlocutor of the new group with the shareholder. "Nicolas de Tavernost, he reassures the markets and the government," said a financial analyst contacted by Le Parisien. And he will know how to leave his place when the future group is on the rails. He will thus leave the media scene with a bang. "
But this merger is far from over. The future spouses must first submit their file to the Competition Authority. And succeed in removing many barriers. A step that is not necessarily very simple. Because between them, the TF1 and M6 groups represented 42.7% of audience share, largely ahead of France Télévisions (28.0%), and more than 70% of the French television advertising market. What displeases advertisers, fearing to see the prices soar.
Another problematic point: the number of channels that the new set would have on TNT. To date, TF1 owns the parent channel but also TMC, TFX, TF1 Séries Films and LCI. Opposite, on the other side, at M6, W9, 6ter, Gulli as well as Paris Première and Téva on pay DTT. However, to date, anti-merger regulations prohibit a group from owning more than seven channels. The future giant could thus decide to withdraw several channels from free TNT, such as TF1 Séries Films, 6ter and Paris Première. Or, recently asserted Capital, to sell them to a third party. On the radio side, no problem in sight since the group led by Nicolas de Tavernost owns RTL, Fun Radio and RTL2 when Gilles Pélisson does not have any.
This creation is not for tomorrow. Nothing will happen even before the end of 2022, on the eve of the renewal by the CSA of the authorizations to issue TF1 and M6 ... The time that the Competition Authority examines in detail the file filed by TF1. And make a landmark decision. Either by pure and simple acceptance, a very unlikely scenario. Or by a clear refusal, again hardly imaginable. “The most likely answer is
yes
,” analyzes a professional in the field. We will have to make concessions and choices. However, facing Netflix and others, it seems unlikely that France will not acquire a new giant. "