The TF1 and M6 groups announced their desire to merge on Monday evening.

An explosion in the French audiovisual landscape, which would give birth, not before the end of 2022 and subject to authorizations from the Competition Authority, to a giant at the national level.

But to a dwarf globally.

ANALYSIS

Koh Lanta

and

Top chef

at the time of reunification.

The TF1 group and the M6 ​​group - which also owns RTL radio - will come together, a revolution in the media world.

TF1 will have 30% of the new set, the owner of M6 16% and the rest will be listed on the stock exchange.

And it is Nicolas de Tavernost, the current boss of M6, who would take the lead.

But beware: there is still a lot to do.

And, above all, the new entity will certainly be a giant at the national level, but will still weigh very little at the global level.

A gigantic group, obstacles to overcome

On paper, this is certainly the deal of the century in the media world in France. At a time of competition from Netflix and Amazon, it is the birth of a gigantic group present in all markets: radio with RTL, series production, 10 free channels - including TF1, M6, TMC or even Gulli - websites like Doctissimo, replay and VOD sites, etc.

This is where the problems begin.

Because the law is clear: it is not possible for the same group to have more than seven channels.

We will therefore have to sell three.

Officially, the choice has not yet been made.

The new group will represent around a third of the TV audience share and three quarters of the advertising market.

Again, it could make you tick.

The competition authority must decide in the summer of 2022. If this historic transaction were to be finalized, the merger would take place at the end of 2022.

>> Find the morning show of the day in replay and podcast here

M6 and TF1, dwarfs on a global scale

And if the big bang does take place, it would ultimately only be an explosion at the national level. You have to widen the focal length. On the scale of what the media landscape is today, this operation is not a big bang, it is a very small bang. The proof: Monday in the United States, ATT announced the marriage of Warner, its media branch, bought back $ 85 billion three years ago, with Discovery, another media empire. The two combined are worth $ 130 billion. TF1 is worth $ 2 billion, M6, $ 2.5 billion. Even together, they are dwarves on a global scale.

The stake of the battle is not moreover any more at the national level.

If we are witnessing at the same time this marriage of television giants in the United States, it is to stand up to these other giants that are Netflix and Disney.

And to compete with them in streaming, the rapidly growing market which is global.

To have an order of magnitude: this new American group Warner-Discovery spends 20 billion dollars a year on content and Netflix, 17 billion.

In other words, each of them spends, in the production of programs or the purchase of rights, about 10 times the value of TF1!

The French market soon to be dominated by foreign groups

In fact, the real issue is that for the first time in our history, the dominant media on the French market will be foreign.

This is a big bang.

The media decision-making centers that dominate the European market today are Los Gatos or Burbank, California, the headquarters of Netflix and Disney.

The merger of TF1 and M6 may even be too late to avoid this domination.

Unless it is the prelude to other mergers on the European market.