French broadcaster drops anti-Netflix merger deal

By Geert De Clercq and Mathieu Rosemain PARIS (Reuters) – M6 Group and TF1, two of France’s largest private broadcasters Dropped a merger plan to fend off the rise of U.S. streaming platforms, saying antitrust demands made the deal irrelevant. If successful, the deal will change the French television landscape and redefine the rules of competition related to the advertising market, in Europe Pioneering and potentially similar deals among traditional broadcasters. ” it appears that only structural remedies involving at least the divestiture of either the TF1 TV channel or the M6 ​​TV channel would be sufficient to approve the proposed merger,” the companies said in a statement on Friday, citing talks with French antitrust authorities. they added that there was no longer any strategic justification for the proposed merger, although they still believed that in light of “the resulting The challenge of the merger is the growing competition from international platforms that makes sense. ” “The transaction could create significant competitive risks, particularly in the television advertising and television service distribution markets,” The French Competition Authority said in an online statement. This merger will leave the combined entity in the country Dominance in three-quarters of TV commercials will also give service providers greater bargaining power with distributors such as the Internet, said Benoit Coeuré, chairman of the antitrust watchdog. “The proposed commitments include, inter alia, the separation of advertising agencies for TF1 and M6 channels,” Coeuré said, but added that incentives to compete with each channel were other will be subject to the control of TF1 by its major shareholders, 20052 Bouygues