Paris (AFP)

Is there a stir at RTL because of too much control of its new parent company M6? No, assures the boss of the audiovisual group Nicolas de Tavernost, who judges that the integration is going well but remains determined to print its mark

At the end of May, the employees learned that they were losing their leader Christopher Baldelli, who had been in charge for 10 years, to the benefit of a former M6, the former head of advertising at TF1 Régis Ravanas.

More recently, the announcement that the head of the station's political service Elizabeth Martichoux was going to lose the key interview in the morning of Yves Calvi has caused concern internally, according to several media.

"We regretted the violent side of the decision, and late for Elizabeth.This is not so reassuring," said the SDL RTL interviewed by L'Express.

Changes that occur when one of the pillars of the station Marc-Olivier Fogiel leaves to lead BFMTV (he presented his last show on Thursday) and that RTL, accustomed to prancing at the top of the hearings, was dethroned by France Inter in spring.

The boss of M6 was reassuring in front of the Association of the media journalists Thursday: "there is no reason that the editorial position of RTL changes", he indicated, adding that Yves Calvi would be "there in September."

"This radio operation (the takeover of RTL, ed), we wanted to do for over ten years and we had to convince the shareholder (the German group Bertelsmann, ed.) Integration is going well, we have a lot of exchanges and we wish that there is more, "said the leader, opposing the" + M6isation + RTL "deplored by some, the" + RTLisation + M6 ".

He gave as an example the arrival this summer to the presentation of the "19.45" of Amandine Bégot, journalist of RTL, and also the successful transfer of Julien Courbet, flagship host of the radio whose balance sheet at the head of "Capital" this season is very positive. The latter will also inherit at the start of two new programs on M6, a talk show and a show about entrepreneurs.

- Everyone's identity -

"There are always some difficulties that can arise, dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction ... It has nothing to do with an integration problem," he continued.

He also swept aside the assumption put forward by some media that Elizabeth Martichoux was sidelined for political reasons: "As far as politics is concerned, I have never intervened in 32 years, I have always defended interest of the group ".

RTL's director of information Jacques Esnous explained the change with a desire to open the morning interview in areas other than politics.

Nicolas de Tavernost however warned that in the radio, it was necessary to be "attentive". "We have a big public radio that is certainly first but has a social plan (France Inter, ed) and one of our major competitors (Europe 1, ed), which is in great difficulty.RTL does not have these problems- but we have to develop multimedia, we need to move faster ".

This is particularly the purpose of the change of direction, which will see arriving on Tuesday Regis Ravanas, and aims to give "a new direction" to develop the audio platforms and all that is music even if "everyone must keep his identity". A subject which also concerns the channels that M6 has just bought from Lagardère (Gulli, Canal J, Tiji and music channels).

"We want to go from a television group to a media group," said the leader who wants to invest more in production and launch a channel, M6 International, to the French-speaking countries.

Chairman of the Executive Board of M6 since 2000, Nicolas de Tavernost was reappointed for three years in February 2017 and a recent amendment of the group's statutes increased the age limit for executives from 70 to 72, allowing him to stay in office until 2022.

While his possible successor has long been the subject of speculation, he felt that Regis Ravanas "had the qualities" to take over one day.

? 2019 AFP