a first report from the Competition Authority is “not favorable” to the project

First clouds above the marriage project between TF1 and M6: a body of the Competition Authority said, Tuesday, July 26, unfavorable to this union supposed to create a French television giant. This long-awaited report points to “significant competition concerns”particularly in television advertising, explained Tuesday evening the chairman of the management board of the M6 ​​group, Nicolas de Tavernost, on the sidelines of the publication of the half-yearly results of his group.

“The nature and extent of the remedies required in the investigation report would make the project irrelevant to the parties who, in this case, would abandon it”then declared together TF1, M6 and their respective shareholders, the Bouygues and RTL groups, in several press releases.

These measures “would not make it possible to build a coherent industrial project”, insisted Nicolas de Tavernost, proposed as the future CEO of the new group. The two channels are counting on this merger to weigh against new digital players, such as Netflix, which are eating away at the viewing time of traditional television, raising the price of audiovisual programs and are now investing in the advertising market.

TF1 and M6 ask the Autorité de la concurrence to consider their market share taking into account these new global players. The two groups initially hoped for “synergies” estimated between 250 and 350 million euros.

However, the parties concerned do not intend to give up and intend for the time being “maintain the project as it was presented”. They plan to respond to the Competition Authority within three weeks, before defending their merger during hearings scheduled before the Authority’s college on September 5 and 6. The final decision expected in October will be up to this college, which is not required to follow the advice of the investigation services.