Salto: TF1, M6 and France Télévisions in the viewfinder of the Council of State following the appeal of Free – Univers Freebox

A year after its creation, Salto could face further restrictions from the Council of State, which must soon announce whether the commitments of its shareholders are sufficient.

Towards a renegotiation of the TF1, M6 and France Télévisions agreements? The answer will come in the coming days. The Council of State must indeed decide soon on the validity of these agreements dating from 2019, more precisely on compliance with the rules aimed at preventing any anti-competitive agreement. The question had been raised by Free in 2020, fearing for its part that the three groups will choose to favor Salto when they set the selling prices of their channels.

The case already seems badly off, since during the examination of the case on October 13, the public rapporteur judged some of the commitments of the three French groups and pleaded for a partial cancellation of the green light of the Authority of competition, given in 2019. However, judges regularly follow the rapporteur’s opinion in these cases. If part of the authorization is canceled, TF1, M6 and France Télévisions will have to obtain a new approval, with commitments this time more binding than those contracted in 2019.

An alliance between rivals that makes you skeptical

The problem lies in the very nature of the creation of this platform. By cooperating to launch the SVOD service, the three founding groups could take the opportunity to come to an anti-competitive agreement in other areas. It is to avoid this scenario that TF1, M6 and France Télévisions have thus promised to receive from the platform only the information strictly necessary and that the representatives of the three channels are not involved in program purchases or in distribution. Chains.

A Chinese wall that the rapporteur considers too porous and that he therefore wishes to strengthen. If the Council of State takes measures, they will intervene in a rather difficult context for the platform which is still not profitable, having lost 40 million euros in the first six months of 2021 alone. The chairman of the management board of M6 last February assessed the losses of Salto over the year 2021 at around “a hundred million euros”.

The service still seems to be struggling to find its place, with a relatively high price (more expensive than Amazon Prime), but also with content mostly broadcast on the antennas of TF1, M6 and France Télévisions, with a very wide positioning of the point view of its catalog. Especially since no distribution to operator boxes (except those of Bouygues Telecom and those with a play store) is not recorded. The launch of a paid TF1 replay also seems to compete with the platform, with all front page content without advertising for € 2.99 / month the first year and € 3.9 / month thereafter.

In addition, the question arises: what will happen to Salto once TF1 and M6 are merged? Will France Télévisions want to stay on board, or withdraw from it as provided for in the service’s shareholders’ agreement? The future is therefore still uncertain for the one who once dreamed of competing with Netflix.

Source: Capital