“When you have such a media empire, you have a negotiating tool with power,” analyzes a media historian

The CMA CGM group, owned by Franco-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, announced on Friday that it had signed a promise to purchase with a view to acquiring Altice Media, parent company of BFMTV and RMC.

“When you have such a media empire, you have a tool for negotiating with those in power”, analyzes Friday March 15 on franceinfo Alexis Lévrier, media historian, after the announcement of the takeover of Altice Media, parent company of BFMTV and RMC, by the French shipowner CMA CGM. A buyout agreement for 1.55 billion euros has been concluded.

“Beyond the fact that it can be profitable in itself, it is the overall coherence and the interests of the group that Rodolphe Saadé [PDG de CMA CGM] seeks to defendcontinues Alexis Lévrier. “It’s a very powerful group, The Obs revealed at the end of last year that it is a group which made 42 billion euros in profits in two years and which only paid 2% in taxes thanks to the benevolence of the State.describes Alexis Lévrier.

New media empires

The media historian describes a context in which “there are new players who are seeking to build media groups present both in print and in the audiovisual sector.” Among them are “Saadé but also Daniel Kretinsky and we know that Xavier Niel is also eyeing the audiovisual media“, he lists. “When it is well managed, when we have possibilities for vertical and horizontal concentrations, we have the means to build a profitable group”explains the historian.

CMA CGM’s progress in the media has been “very fast”recalls Alexis Lévrier, with “first from the PQR and then The gallery“. At the end of 2023, the group launched La Tribune Sunday with the desire to “to compete with what the JDD has become, that is to say a far-right weekly, by resuming the original identity of the JDD, a newspaper rather of influence and rather of support for political powerinterprets the specialist. Rodolphe Saadé is someone who will not be in the ideological logic of Vincent Bolloré, he takes over the media because it is profitable but also because it allows him to put pressure on those in power.”

An “identity crisis”

“Since the end of the Drahi era, BFM was in a bit of an identity crisis, that is to say that the success of BFM has long been based on hard news, and then, recently, they have tried to go into the fields of CNews, but not with the same success. So we must expect that BFM will refocus on its original identity because it worked well, but it will not be in a logic of contestation of power, there is no doubt about it”says the historian.

Alexis Lévrier, however, shares a “worry”. “These empires which are still very limited in number, which may be contesting power, but which are still overwhelmingly supportive of power, pose a problem”he blurted. “To what extent do they respect the editorial independence of their editorial staff? This is also what we will have to observe in the months and years to come”he warns.