The authorizations to broadcast on DTT channels 1 and 6 are coming to an end: TF1 and M6 must respectively renew their candidacy, but other players have both frequencies in their sights. Among them, Xavier Niel could well apply to take over the channel occupied by M6.
Xavier Niel would prepare his weapons to conquer television. An application file would be submitted to Arcom to take over the M6 frequency if the channel’s transmission license is not renewed. A scenario that, however, has little chance of success.
The emission authorizations of TF1 and M6 end
On December 7, Arcom (ex-CSA) published a call to occupy two television frequencies: channel 1 and channel 6, indicates le figaro. Under French law, it is Arcom that assigns television services by issuing an authorization that is valid for a maximum of ten years. At the end of the latter, it can be renewed for five years on several occasions. The deadline for TF1 and M6 is at the beginning of May 2023 and it is the first time in the history of the two channels that this procedure has gone through a call open to all.
This call for candidates to take charge of the ” a” and the ” sixIt doesn’t mean that TF1 and M6 are going to disappear. The two channels also told AFP that they are requesting the renewal of their authorizations.
TF1 and M6 weakened by the failure of their merger, but the channels are prepared
According to the echoes , TF1 is preparing for the broadcasting license renewal hearings. The chain signed a few days ago” an agreement with the six main representative unions of independent audiovisual production […] as well as two authors’ societies ».
Arcom having a reputation for being conservative, if the TF1 and M6 files are serious enough, it is hard to see the Authority not renewing the authorizations. TF1 is a television channel that has been broadcasting since 1987 as a private company, and M6 appeared that same year. One can imagine that this call by Arcom is a way of putting pressure on the two channels to comply more with its rules and demands.
It should be noted that the TF1 and M6 groups were weakened by the failure of their merger at the end of last year, due to the Competition Authority, which did not want the project. This is what caused, at least in part, a drop in audiences for TF1 in 2022.
Xavier Niel wants to position himself in DTT
how to ensure the echoes, Xavier Niel wants to apply with his group Iliad (Free). The team of him ” he would have indicated his intention to apply to get his hands on the frequency of a channel of general interest», firstthe six. If you want to file said file, Xavier Niel still has until January 23.
The newspaper adds that ” To defend his project, Niel’s campaign would have multiplied the meetings in recent weeks with various actors of French cultural creation“. At the end of November, the vice president of Iliad Maxime Lombardini as well as the lawyer François Sureau detailed the commitments that the group could assume. The first had declared less to seek maximum profitability and want to invest in creation. the echoesreports that Lombardini added ” that a new entrant could promote unpublished fiction in prime time, with innovative formats“and I want to start the afternoons” in a more reasonable time ».
Xavier Niel wants to invest more in media
If we know Xavier Niel above all for the creation of Free, the businessman is also very involved in the media. Through his NJJ holding company, he controls several newspaper titles:nice morning,be matin,OBS,The world,International Courier,telerama, etc. He also founded Mediawan, a French audiovisual group that owns several production companies in Europe.
His companies already have experience in the audiovisual sector and Xavier Niel is already focused on the media, but he lacks television. If his file is admissible, he will participate in the public hearings that are scheduled for mid-February, then it will be necessary to hurry to allocate frequencies. Xavier Niel actually has very little chance of getting a frequency, but some experts in the French audiovisual landscape (PAF) tend to believe that putting a spoke in the wheels of TF1 and M6 would allow him to establish a certain power. Enough to get hold of M6 shares, after two failed purchase operations.
Y “good connoisseur» questioned bythe echoesadds that “does not cost much to apply, except paper […] “. That “prepares other calls for DTT channels in 2025».
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