Paris (AFP)
Does the merger between TF1 and M6 risk leading to a situation of monopoly, feared in particular in the advertising market?
The debate is launched, with the analysis of the Competition Authority in its sights, which will seal the fate of this new television giant next year.
"We are faced with a fait accompli", regrets to AFP Jean-Luc Chetrit, general manager of the Union of brands which represents advertisers.
The merger project announced Monday evening by Bouygues and Bertelsmann (via RTL Group) "consists in bringing about the emergence of a player who will own 75% of television advertising in France", he explains based on figures from the institute Kantar Media.
And according to him, this new group would be able to dictate the prices for the purchase of programs and the sale of advertisements, while preventing the arrival of new entrants: "This is not good news, nor for brands, or for producers, "insists Mr. Chetrit.
On another level, the French Internet television application Molotov, struggling with the TV channels, fears that the two broadcasters are coordinating to avoid any competition in the distribution market.
"This merger involves vital risks for all audiovisual players," she denounced in a statement Tuesday evening.
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However, experts confirm that the sector must move towards more concentration, the only way out to resist growing pressure from Google, Facebook and other American streaming platforms (Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon).
The former dominate the advertising market while the latter tirelessly garner audience shares.
Elsewhere also, the entertainment market is consolidating: announcement of the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, but also absorption of the MGM studio by Amazon mentioned Tuesday in the American press, or previously acquisition of Warner Bros by AT&T, of Universal by Comcast, and by Paramount by ViacomCBS ...
- "Obsolete" rule -
"In a time of quasi monopoly of the Gafa, the time is not to worry about the concentration in the sector of the TV in France", judge with AFP one of the specialists of the sector, Patrick- Yves Badillo, director of Medi @ Lab at the University of Geneva.
According to him, "it is rather a good thing" that France makes emerge "an actor as powerful as possible".
"On the other hand, it is good to maintain, or even strengthen, the plurality of information sources, in particular thanks to continuous news channels."
On this point, media expert Philippe Bailly is "not worried": "24-hour news channels remain a market with 4 players (BFM, CNews, France Info, LCI), and today it does not seem to me that there is a very strong concentration of the number of news transmitters, "he told AFP.
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The outcome of the project is now based on the conclusions to be drawn by the two authorities which must study it.
The CSA - which did not wish to comment at this stage - must examine its compliance with regard to anti-concentration rules specific to the media, in particular concerning the maximum number of DTT channels per group.
In a recent opinion, the audiovisual policeman considered that this device was "old" and had proved to be "obsolete" in the face of developments in the sector, but a reform seems complicated in the run-up to the presidential election.
- Effects on Salto?
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"It is not written that this operation is possible," recalls for her part the president of the Competition Authority Isabelle de Silva.
"If we keep the definition of the current relevant market (advertising on free television), the operation seems difficult to achieve," she said in an interview with AFP.
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However, "we only change these definitions if we have a lot of elements of conviction", as was the case for example by integrating digital (and Amazon) into the market for the sale of electronic products, when Fnac bought Darty in 2016.
According to Ms. de Silva, "behavioral remedies - such as the obligation to keep separate advertising agencies for a period of time - are not appropriate when there really are major competition concerns."
The instance intends to begin examining the file as soon as possible.
A formal notification is expected in the fall, then the decision could be taken in the first half of 2022.
"On large-scale operations such as this one, we will surely have discussions with the European Commission (...), especially since the problem that arises today in France could arise tomorrow in Belgium or in France. Germany, ”added Isabelle de Silva.
Finally, "we cannot exclude that the examination may also have effects on Salto (the SVOD platform launched at the end of 2020 between France Télévisions, TF1 and M6)", without necessarily calling into question all the elements of the authorization granted by Authority in the summer of 2019.
© 2021 AFP