TF1-M6 merger: Nicolas de Tavernost announces exchanges of hosts between the two channels – Ozap

Imagine a second Denis Brogniart in the shoes of the race director of “Beijing Express” or Stéphane Rotenberg extinguishing the torch of the adventurers of “Koh-Lanta” at the end of the council. What still seems unthinkable today, as the competition between TF1 and M6 on the market of animators is raging, could tomorrow be a plausible hypothesis The potential merger between the two leading groups in free-to-air television in France is intended to generate synergies, recalled this morning in “Les Échos”, the chairman of the management board of the M6 group, Nicolas de Tavernost. estimated”between 250 and 300 million euros per year in the long term“.

“A synergy program in terms of exchange of animators”

The hypothetical president of the future ensemble details his strategy: “In the first years, we will combine activities and there will be restructuring costs. As we did, on another scale between M6 and RTL when we bought the radio. We have set up a synergy program in terms of technical operations, common services, exchange of facilitators, etc. This is what we want to do between M6 and TF1 tomorrow and therefore we cannot be told everyone stay at home“, he pleads.

In addition to synergies, the merger would have, according to Nicolas de Tavernost, the advantage of generating margins “to be able to invest (…) in programs, in technology, to create new streaming brands in order to strengthen and resist competition from major international platforms (…) We believe that streaming will represent, at five years, up to half the television audience. This is why we must accelerate in this area“.

And the current number one of M6 to tackle: “We evolve in the same universe of programs as the streaming platforms, contrary to what the boss of Banijay says (Stéphane Courbit, editor’s note). Take the current Disney+ poster campaign, they show The Simpsons and Malcom, programs that made M6’s heyday“, he illustrates. “We are seeing inflation in program costs and increasingly fierce competition for talent. Example: we have made films with Omar Sy but it is no longer possible for us today to have this actor who has signed an exclusive contract with Netflix… This scenario will occur more and more: the platforms will increase the number of long-term contracts with talents“.

“More than 200 million euros per year of investments in streaming”

This investment in streaming would represent on the scale of the TF1-M6 group, according to Nicolas de Tavernost, “more than 200 million per year“. Reason why, he clarifies, “we will not be able to accept extremely rigid measures to separate our activities as part of the merger between TF1 and M6“. Strings require, in effect, inclusion in the definition of “relevant market” applicable to television, digital advertising, at least video, arguing the growing convergence between advertising offers on television and on the internet. Without this revision of the definition, “the TF1 and M6 groups will together represent nearly 70% of the advertising market share on French free-to-air television channels“, noted, in an interview with “Forbes“, Isabelle Wekstein-Steg, lawyer at the Court who follows this file. And the merger could thus be prevented.

“There is one thing that is very clearconcludes Nicolas de Tavernost. It’s a merger that we won’t do at any price. Fusion is made to strengthen each other. It is not made to weaken. We already have strong constraints with the transfer of television channels which is imposed on us by law in the event of a merger between TF1 and M6 (…) I will not detail today which constraints would be acceptable or not. I just want to tell you that if we cannot implement a complete program of synergies within the framework of this merger, to invest more in new activities, we will not merge between TF1 and M6.”