“The program works just as well because you don’t see me”

Such longevity is extremely rare on TV. “Sports 6“ has been on the air since 1989, with the same formula from the start: sports news all in images, without a presenter, with a voice-over. It is that of its creator, Stéphane Tortora, who even today refuses to appear on the screen: “I think the program works just as well because you don’t see me! There is no physical weariness. When people came to visit M6 for the Heritage Days, before the Covid, they were very curious to know what I look like.”

I regularly sign postcards that I send to viewers who want to see my white hair! Appearing on screen is not the concept of the show. When I created Sport 6, it was with a desire for efficiency.

Stephane Tortora

at franceinfo

Stéphane Tortora’s idea was initially to transpose into sport “The 6 minute“, a newspaper all in pictures. After the rejection of his first model (cIt will never work”he was told), the second is the right one, and Sport 6 was born. “The formula has changed very little, he explains. It’s always a bit the same music: three titles, three headings, the red card in the middle and three end briefs.”

The famous “Red card” is eagerly awaited every Sunday (12:30 p.m. and 8:10 p.m.) by the two and a half million faithful. This is the other reason for the success of the show, even if Stéphane Tortora admits having made a lot of enemies: “The world of sport is not used to being caressed against the grain. Athletes or supporters do not always like it. And it takes on worrying proportions sometimes… For the story of Djokovic at the Australian Open (turned back from the country because not vaccinated), I took waves of antivax, it was quite violent… But I never censor myself!“