The audiovisual groups TF1, M6 and Altice announced yesterday evening that they had signed agreements for the sale of the TFX and 6ter channels to Altice, in the event of the effective completion of the planned merger between TF1 and M6. The representative bodies of TF1 staff having “approved the project to sell the TFX channel to the Altice group”, the two groups have signed the agreements relating to this sale, TF1 and Altice said in a joint press release.
In the process, M6 also informed of the signing of agreements with Altice for the sale of its 6ter channel following having obtained the opinion of the staff authorities. These transactions are a consequence of the proposed merger between TF1 and M6, which should give birth to a new French television giant.
But to do this, TF1 and M6, which between them have ten channels, are required to comply with French regulations which limit the number of national channels on digital terrestrial television (TNT) to 7 for the same group. The two groups had thus announced at the end of February that they wanted to sell the TFX and 6ter channels to Altice, a telecoms and media group founded by billionaire Patrick Drahi.
To arrive at the account, M6 had at the same time announced that it “plans to restore the TNT frequency of the Paris Première channel” while continuing to operate the pay channel on other broadcasting channels, cable and satellites.
Although the sales of TFX and 6ter are signed between TF1, M6, on the one hand, and Altice on the other, they remain subject to obtaining the green light from the Competition Authority and Arcom, the audiovisual and digital regulator. And especially to the realization of the merger between TF1 and M6. For the time being, TFX “will thus remain fully controlled by the TF1 group throughout 2022”, specifies TF1.