Marc-Olivier Fogiel replaced at the head of BFMTV by the deputy general director of LCI, Fabien Namias

The news channel BFMTV, recently bought by the group of billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, has just been dethroned for the first time by CNews.

A bolt from the blue at BFMTV. After more than five years at the helm, Marc-Olivier Fogiel has announced his departure from the news channel, which was recently bought by the group of billionaire Rodolphe Saadé and is losing ground to CNews. “With great emotion but a sense of duty accomplished, I have decided, at the end of a five-year term, to leave BFMTV”the person concerned announced to his teams in an email on Monday July 22, which AFP was able to consult. He promised to be present at the start of the school year to carry out a “soft transition”.

BFMTV/RMC: officialization of the departures of Marc-Olivier Fogiel and Hervé Béroud and the arrival of Fabien Namias and Jean-Philippe Baille in their respective positions (press release) pic.twitter.com/MmcJIFz0R7

— Adrien Franque (@AdrienFranque) July 22, 2024

In this long message in which he thanks his teams and recalls the highlights he experienced within the editorial staff, Marc-Olivier Fogiel also recalls the audiences of the “France’s leading news channel”despite “competitors who are getting stronger”. “When I arrived in 2019, BFMTV’s audience share was 2.6%. Today it is 3%”he said, referring to the channel followed by 12.3 million viewers every day.

Launched in 2005 and the leading continuous news channel since 2008, BFMTV has just been dethroned for the first time by CNews, owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, in May and June. BFMTV has also just gone through a period of turbulence: in July, Marc-Olivier Fogiel was put in difficulty, along with other figures or ex-figures of the channel, by a Mediapart investigation into a “media manipulation” in favor of Nicolas Sarkozy in one of the aspects of the Libyan financing affair. He defended himself by referring to treatment “journalistically impeccable” and committed to improving the charter guaranteeing editorial independence.

Marc-Olivier Fogiel’s departure is accompanied by that of Hervé Béroud, until now deputy general director of information at RMC BFM. Fabien Namias, deputy general director of LCI, will take over at the helm of BFMTV. His departure from LCI is effective immediately, the channel announced. The director of information at Radio France and director of franceinfo, Jean-Philippe Baille, will succeed Hervé Béroud.