Shares in French broadcasting groups TF1 and M6 fell on Monday after they announced late last week that they had abandoned long-held plans to merger.
Bouygues-controlled TF1 Group and RTL Group-owned M6 originally announced plans to merge in May 2021, arguing that it would help them to scale up and compete against the international streaming platforms making incursions into France.
The decision to abandon the merger was announced on Friday evening (Sept 16), and came after Bouygues, RTL Group, TF1 and M6 appeared at hearings of the French Competition Authority’s board on September 5 and 6.
In a statement, the four companies said: “Following the debates with the Authority and despite the additional remedies proposed, it appears that only structural remedies involving at the very least the divestment of the TF1 TV channel or of the M6 TV channel would be sufficient to approve the proposed merger. The parties have therefore concluded that the proposed merger no longer has any strategic rationale.”
The companies criticised the Competition Authority for not taking into account “the speed and extent of the changes sweeping through the French broadcasting sector,” and said they “firmly believe that a merger of the TF1 and M6 groups would have provided an appropriate response to the challenges resulting from the increased competition from the international platforms.”
Opponents of the deal had argued that the merger would give TF1 and M6 a dominant position in the French TV market, including 40% of audiences and 71% of the TV ad market.
TF1 Group’s assets include five free-to-air channels – TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Séries Films, LCI – as well as streaming platforms MYTF1 and TFOU MAX. Its production division, Newen Studios, is home to 40 production companies and labels in France and abroad. TF1 Films Production is behind recent box office successes such as Super-Héros Malgré Lui, Maison de Retraite and Qu’est-ce qu’on a Tous Fait au Bon Dieu?
M6 Group spans 13 channels, including M6, France’s second-largest private channel, and digital platform 6Play.
TF1 and M6 are partners, with France Televisions, in French streaming platform Salto, which launched in 2020.
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