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France’s broadcast regulator has refused to renew a licence for an entertainment channel owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, the first time it has done so for a free-to-air TV station.
The channel, C8, had attracted €7.6mn in fines for breaching broadcasting standards, for reasons including promoting conspiracy theories and fake news, as well as for not respecting pluralism.
Taken with a move on Wednesday to provisionally grant a licence to Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský to launch a channel, the decisions shake up the French media landscape, which is dominated by billionaire owners who buy outlets as signifiers of power and tools of influence.
The channel being launched by Křetínský, an avowed Francophile, is called RéelsTV and will focus on debates, documentaries and entertainment. A final authorisation will only be granted after the approved broadcaster and the regulator have finished negotiating a contract, a process that starts in September.
There are political implications to the decision by the regulator, Arcom, since Bolloré’s media outlets tend to be rightwing, especially his TV news channel CNews which is often compared to the US’s Fox News.
Although C8 has been stripped of its licence, other Bolloré-owned channels including Canal+, Canal+ Sport and CNews have had theirs renewed.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen criticised the regulator’s move in a social media post. “For those in power, a diversity of opinions is unacceptable. So bit by bit they will sideline all TV channels and radio that do not convey the same messages as public broadcasters”, which she said had leftwing bias.
The decision not to renew C8’s licence comes after the network became France’s most sanctioned television channel, garnering €7.6mn in fines for failures to adhere to the regulator’s broadcasting standards.
Most are related to incidents on controversial populist star Cyril Hanouna’s Touche Pas a Mon Poste! (Don’t Touch My TV Channel!) — a rowdy infotainment show with a few million daily viewers, which critics have accused of promoting the far right.
In one notable incident, Hanouna, who started his career as a comedian and was one of the first to invite members of the gilets jaunes protest movement on air in 2018, clashed with an MP from the far-left France Insoumise party in 2022, calling the politician a “shit” and a “loser” after he insulted Bolloré.
Arcom hit the channel with a €3.5mn fine over the incident for reputational harm to the guest, as well as failure to control the content it broadcasts.
A devout catholic, Bolloré has put his ideological mark on his media assets often by replacing top editorial staff, tactics used at CNews, the weekly Journal du Dimanche, and Europe 1 radio.
Bolloré’s Canal+ Group, which owns C8 and is preparing to list in London as early as the end of the year, declined to comment. Arcom declined to comment on the reasons for its C8 decision.
The licence renewals pertain to what are known as TNT channels in France, which operate alongside traditional broadcasters like TF1 and M6.
Free-to-air channels account for 90 per cent of France’s television viewership, according to Arcom.
Other billionaires who own media outlets include LVMH owner Bernard Arnault and telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel. Shipping magnate Rodolphe Saadé is the newest billionaire entrant to media after having bought La Tribune newspaper and the news channel BFMTV off of indebted French-Israeli telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi.
Arnault owns newspapers Les Echos and Le Parisien, and is in the process of buying celebrity magazine Paris Match from Bolloré. Niel has a large stake in national daily Le Monde that he has placed in a trust.
Bolloré has built a business empire spanning media and industry that he is in the process of reconfiguring by selling off assets. He is now planning the break-up of his media holding, Vivendi.
Křetínský’s venture into television caps an acquisition spree in which the businessman, who built his fortune in energy, has bought the UK’s Royal Mail, French book publisher Editis and French food retailer Casino.
His media group CMI, which will run RéelsTV, owns French magazines including Marianne and Elle.
