Unsurprisingly, the audiovisual regulatory authority dismissed the candidacy of the boss of Iliad-Free on Wednesday. “This is the realization of thirty-six years of work for the whole group”, welcomed Nicolas de Tavernost, the boss of the group M6.
by Aude Dassonville
No need for big sentences or long speeches. A concise press release from the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom, ex-CSA) was enough on Wednesday, February 22, to put an end to the relative suspense that has been mobilizing the sector for several weeks. Exit Xavier Niel, his project as a general channel who wanted to “bring more to viewers, more to creation, and more to public debate”, and his desire to energize the French audiovisual universe.
From May 6 and for the next ten years, the DTT service plan will offer M6 on Canal 6 – exactly as today. Thus decided the regulator which, with regard to the obligations inscribed in the law of September 20, 1986 and “of the priority imperative of safeguarding of pluralism of the currents of socio -cultural expression”, selected the existing chain within the framework of the Call for candidates launched on December 7, 2022. In parallel with this outcome, TF1, which did not face any competition, was also awarded a new “authorization to use the radioelectric resource on TNT”.
A few moments before the official announcement, the founder of Iliad (individual shareholder of the world) revealed from a humorous tweet The state of mind with which he welcomed this disappointment. Under the words “the frequency M6”, a speechless teenager launches, in an approximate spelling: “how to recover, damn? I would never get it back down.” Much more sober, the M6 group simply took “act with satisfaction” of choice operated. “This step allows him to consider with serenity the continuation of the dissemination of his programs in the service of the public in strict compliance with his obligations,” he added in his press release.
revenge
Even if it appeared the most likely option, this new authorization granted to M6 was for Nicolas de Tavernost, the Chairman of the Management Board, of the Victory Regards. Or even revenge, after the successive disappointments of the fall of 2022 caused by the abandonment of the merger with TF1, then the sales project. “It is the realization of thirty-six years of work for the whole group, rejoices the leader. Xavier Niel was someone serious. When we are in a match like that, you have to check the boxes to win . However, we made a good project, a good presentation, good negotiations with stakeholders. “
The assurance of seeing M6 continue to benefit from its exposure on TNT, from which it draws around 30 % of its audience, should close the period of instability which opened two years ago, when its shareholder Majority for the first time expressed his wish to separate from the 48.3 % he owned in the M6 group. “RTL Group will remain its reference shareholder for at least the next five years,” says Nicolas de Tavernost – the law prohibits any resale of a chain within five years of its dissemination authorization. As for her own fate, and a possible outing before her seventy-five anniversary, in the summer of 2025, she is “neither planned nor organized”. But “she will arrive a day”, jokes the one who is about to launch “a strategic review of all our activities” and develop his activity on streaming (online broadcast of the chain).
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