By Mathieu Rosemain and Elvira Pollina
PARIS/MILAN, Jan 26 (Reuters) - French broadcaster M6 and its shareholder CMA CGM are pushing for reform of the country's decades-old media rules, three sources familiar with the matter said, potentially spurring M&A deals to help France's media players compete with global rivals.
The reforms would free up French media groups to join in European consolidation as traditional broadcasters seek scale to compete with U.S. streaming giants, such as Netflix, whose potential
Warner Bros Discovery deal is piling on the pressure.
British broadcaster ITV has been exploring a 1.6 billion pound ($2.16 billion) sale of its TV business to Comcast's Sky, while Italy's MediaForEurope last year took control of Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL acquired Sky Deutschland.
But French media companies are hamstrung by domestic regulatory constraints making it tough to compete against new streaming services, analysts and industry sources told Reuters.
Francois Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis said: "For 20 years there's been consolidation in the United States." But France remains completely blocked while opening the doors wide to Netflix, he said.
Global streaming and social video platforms accounted for 64% of weekly viewing time across France, Britain, Germany and Switzerland, in a shift from traditional broadcasters, according to a Boston Consulting Group study last September.
In France, on-demand viewing via streaming platforms and broadcasters’ catch-up services accounted for 39% of daily video consumption in 2025, up from 36% a year earlier, according to Mediametrie, which tracks France’s TV and video audience.
French lawmakers have resisted change because of concerns over market concentration and a potential weakening of safeguards for French-language programming.
MAINTAINING STATUS QUO ON REGULATIONS 'UNTENABLE'
M6 is driving the push for change and supported by its second-largest shareholder, the global shipping company CMA CGM Group, headed by Rodolphe Saade, which owns more than 10% of the M6 network, the sources said.
M6 said regardless of market developments it continues to invest heavily in content, distribution partnerships, data, advertising, and its M6+ platform. The company gave no further comment.
"Our industry faces a transformation of viewing habits and direct competition from American platforms," David Larramendy, M6 Group CEO, told Le Monde last month. "Under these conditions, maintaining the status quo with regulations designed 40 years ago is untenable."
M6, whose biggest shareholder is German media group RTL, wants lawmakers to amend a rule which effectively freezes M6's ownership structure due to the staggered expiration dates of its digital terrestrial licences.
“RTL Group remains convinced that market consolidation is necessary to compete with the global tech platforms – and that market consolidation will also happen in France sooner or later," an RTL spokesperson said.
"Groupe M6 will play a key role in any further consolidation in the French TV industry. However, any significant consolidation move requires a change of the current French media law.”
French broadcaster TF1's spokesperson told Reuters the company was not seeking a repeal of the five-year licence but wants a broader review of the rules that currently limit consolidation so the sector can restructure for the digital era.
An amendment to the rules, approved by the French Senate, would shorten the licence lock-up period from five to two years, freeing up M6 to do M&A deals by 2028 instead of 2032.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati supports the change but the window for reform is closing amid France's ongoing political turbulence. Any media law changes would need to happen before France's municipal elections in March, the sources said.
A spokesperson for Dati did not respond to a request for comment.
POTENTIAL SUITORS LINE UP
Thomas Rabe, CEO of German media group Bertelsmann, which owns RTL, last year expressed hopes to revive an aborted merger between French broadcasters M6 and TF1 within the next two to three years.
In 2022, M6 Group and TF1 abandoned their own plans to join forces saying requested remedies to clear antitrust hurdles made the deal irrelevant.
Italian broadcaster MediaForEurope (MFE) is also in the mix.
MFE Chief Executive Pier Silvio Berlusconi said at a company event last month he was still interested in entering the French market after an attempt to buy M6 in 2022, before RTL scrapped the sale.
The MFE-backed offer valued RTL's stake in M6 at about 1.4 billion euros ($1.64 billion), or 22 euros a share, two sources familiar with the matter said.
MFE declined to comment.
Berlusconi also said that MFE had held unsuccessful talks with TF1 in the past, without elaborating further.
“As they are, I don’t know how far M6 and TF1 can go,” he told Reuters, warning that French rules risk isolating the country as consolidation sweeps through the sector.
TF1 CEO Rodolphe Belmer told French newspaper Ouest France the TV network would be interested in trying again to buy M6 if it is up for sale.
Shipping magnate Saade, who has been expanding his media empire, is also a potential M&A player should regulatory reform make deals possible, two of the sources said.
For Saade, acquiring the whole of M6 would create a second major French media group to rival TF1.
A spokesperson for Saade's CMA CGM said: "We do not comment on market rumours."
($1 = 0.8532 euros)
($1 = 0.7391 pounds)
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain in Paris, Elvira Pollina in Milan;Additional reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley in London;Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Jane Merriman)
