The M6 ​​group confirmed Monday evening to AFP that it would merge with TF1 to form a giant of French television.

But on a global scale, this marriage is ultimately not so extraordinary according to Nicolas Barré.

It takes stock of a current economic issue.

TF1 and M6 now in the same group. The German media group Bertelsmann, owner of M6, has chosen to sell the channel to the Bouygues group. It's a big bang in the French audiovisual landscape.

On a French scale, it's a big bang.

And you will hear cries of orchard on the theme: "it's terrible, where are we going, TF1 and M6 will dominate the landscape etc".

But 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.

This Monday in the United States, ATT announced the marriage of Warner, its media branch, bought for $ 85 billion three years ago, with Discovery, another media empire.

The two combined are worth $ 130 billion.

TF1 is worth two billion dollars and 2.5 billion for M6.

Even together, they are dwarves on a global scale.

But will they dominate the French market?

They will have a dominant share in the advertising market and the competition authority will look at the subject, of course.

But we must be aware that the stake of the battle is no longer there.

Why are we witnessing this marriage of television giants in the United States at the same time?

To stand up to these other giants that are Netflix and Disney.

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

And that is a global market.

Again, back to the orders of magnitude.

This new American group spends 20 billion dollars a year on content.

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.

Even by bringing TF1 and M6 together, they remain small.

Their competitors are Netflix and Disney. The stake tomorrow, what is it? This is because 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 in 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.