In preparation for more than a year, the marriage between TF1 and M6 will ultimately not take place. In a press release issued this Friday, September 16, the two groups have just announced the abandonment of a possible merger.
“Bouygues, RTL Group, TF1 and the M6 group are today putting an end to the plan to merge the groups TF1 and M6, announced on May 17, 2021″. This is explained by the press release issued today by the two giants of the PAF. According to TF1 and M6, this merger no longer offers “any industrial logic”.
The main reason for this disenchantment is not a disagreement between the two parties. No, to find its origin, you have to go back to the Competition Authoritywhich requested the sale of one of the two channels, TF1 or M6.
The TF1 and M6 groups will not merge, it’s a certainty
The concessions demanded by the Competition Authority therefore got the better of the proposed merger between TF1 and M6. The Autorité had heard the various groups at the beginning of September, and was due to render its decision in mid-October. If this merger had taken place, it would have ensured the new group 35% of TV audience, as well as 70% of advertising revenue. A real financial windfall that flies away, therefore.
But the TF1 and M6 groups ultimately did not wait for the Competition Authority’s decision to issue their press release. Already last July, Nicolas de Tavernost, predicted by the M6 management board, hinted that the merger between TF1 and M6 could finally be canceled.
The reasons given were the same as those explained today. Neither party wants its chains to disappear. “Only structural remedies concerning at least the sale of the TF1 channel or the M6 channel would be such as to allow the authorization of the operation”, explain the different groups in their joint press release.
