This Wednesday, February 15, Xavier Niel, president of the company NJJ Holding is auditioned, with his teams, by Arcom.
At stake, his candidacy for the takeover of the TNT frequency held by the M6 channel for thirty-six years.
The file, filed on January 23 by the boss of Free, was scrutinized by the media regulator.
Alongside Xavier Niel, were also heard, Maxime Lombardini, President of NJJ Project 5523, Ombeline Bartin, project engagement officer, Estelle Lafoy, program officer and Olivier Abecassis, digital media expert.
Read alsoXavier Niel, the man who wants to dynamite French television
“
Twenty people worked on this file, in a short time.
And the team that accompanied us is made up of television professionals
”, begins Xavier Niel first.
Immediately, he points out his intention to create a new channel.
“
I don't think many people think there could be a newcomer to this world.
This is one of the reasons for the decline of television, I think, in favor of social networks and platforms
, ”he adds.
Xavier Niel expresses his desire to bring young people back to television.
“What bothers me is that it's algorithms very far from us that give us leisure time, especially our children.
I am not confident to leave our public debates to Chinese or American actors”.
Xavier Niel
To attract these young people, the channel's linear signal would be distributed free of charge.
“
We want to be present on all screens and use the power of social networks.
These platforms and social networks plunder TV content.
We want to plunder their audience
,” argues Xavier Niel.
He takes as an example the broadcasts of certain television shows on the Twitch streaming platform, which streamers may comment on to their audience.
The latter are often denounced by the channels, which Xavier Niel deplores.
In the idea, the chain “
Six
” would leave, on the contrary, the possibility to the videographers to comment on their emissions.
Investment in creation
Xavier Niel's team also intends to invest massively in creation.
“
As soon as we obtain the frequency, we will launch very open calls for tenders.
We are committed to broadcasting, two evenings a week, original fiction
,” he explained.
For the first year, a broadcast target of 70 original creations at the start of the evening has been set.
"
We are also committed to researching new formats with a budget of 5 to
8
million per year
," said Estelle Lafoy during the question-and-answer session.
In addition, Xavier Niel, already known for having founded the computer school 42, intends to couple this project with training.
"
With Channel Six, I also want to create a new school capable of adapting intellectual property and training Show runners
”.
In addition, Xavier Niel's team proposes to recreate a regular box, on Thursdays, dedicated to cinema.
Every Friday evening, an evening would also be dedicated to documentaries or music shows.
Here again, the boss of Free, underlines his desire to reconnect with the youngest.
“
We have artists like Booba, who fill stadiums and are a hit on social networks, but are never broadcast on television
,” he explains.
While fighting against the platforms.
"
Youtube, Tik tok and Spotify do not have a monopoly on music
," added Xavier Niel.
Two sections of information at 12 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Finally, Xavier Niel has never hidden his ambition to renew information on television.
He intends to add “
Six
” to the news reference channels such as France 2 or Tf1 without, however, recreating an 8 p.m. newscast.
On the other hand, a daily news meeting, lasting 90 minutes, would be broadcast at 12 p.m. and 7 p.m.
All with a passage dedicated “
to a debate around current events with various profiles
”.
A " What do you see
" pastille
, intended for 8-10 year olds, would also be created, to teach children how to decipher an image or a photo from the news.
The editorial staff could be made up
of “a hundred journalists
” with an editorial director “
over whom the editorial staff itself would have a right of veto
”.
Xavier Niel also stressed that the independence of this editorial staff would be respected.
“
The shareholder should never be able to intervene to protect private interests
”.
The boss of Free insisted on his desire to recruit young information talents.
"
Every year, we have at least 400 young journalists coming out of school
."
In total, 70 million euros would be devoted to original heritage creation, 60 million euros for streaming programs and 19 million euros for music.
In addition, Xavier Niel has undertaken to retain control of the channel for 10 years.
To conclude their presentation, the “Six” teams presented a video of their project.
Against the backdrop of Billie Eillish, the young 21-year-old successful singer, images taken from social networks such as the Z event, the charity event broadcast on the Twitch platform.
Recovering the youngsters, from 8 to 25, is clearly the ambition of "Six".