Merger of the transmitters TF1 and M6: A first report of the competition authority is “not favorable” for the project

First clouds over the marriage project between TF1 and M6: A panel of the competition authority made unfavorable comments on Tuesday 26 July on this association that a French television giant is to set up. This is what this long-awaited report indicates “significant competition concerns”particularly in television advertising, explained Tuesday evening the CEO of the M6 ​​group, Nicolas de Tavernost, on the margins of the publication of his group’s half-year results.

“The nature and extent of the remedies requested in the investigation report would render the project irrelevant to the parties, who would then abandon it.”then jointly stated TF1, M6 and their respective shareholders, the Bouygues and RTL groups, in several press releases.

These measures “would not allow building a coherent industrial project”, stressed Nicolas de Tavernost, who is being proposed as the future CEO of the new group. The two channels are banking on this merger to weigh against new digital players like Netflix, which are eating up airtime on traditional TV, raising the prices of audiovisual programming and now investing in the advertising market.

TF1 and M6 ask the Autorité de la concurrence to examine their market share considering these new global players. The two groups initially hoped for “synergies”, which are estimated at 250 to 350 million euros.

However, the parties involved do not want to give up and intend to do so for the time being “Keep the project as presented”. They plan to respond to the competition authority within three weeks before defending their merger at hearings before the authority’s college on September 5-6. The final decision, expected in October, rests with this college, which is not obliged to follow the advice of the investigative services.