Definitive green light from the CSA for repurchase of BFMTV by SFR


The superior audiovisual Council gave its green light Friday to the repurchase of a Group News Entry (BFMTV, RMC, RMC Discovery, Number 23) by the group SFR, said its parent Altice and the CSA (Photo ERIC PIERMONT. AFP)

The superior audiovisual Council gave its green light Friday to the repurchase of a Group News Entry (BFMTV, RMC, RMC Discovery, Number 23) by the group SFR (PA:SFRGR), said its parent company Altice (AS:TCAA) and the CSA.

“The merger between the telecom and the media, initiated in July of 2015, with the acquisition of 49% of NextRadioTV by Altice, entered a new phase,” said in a press release, Altice France.

This subsidiary of group telecom of Patrick Drahi has promised to make new commitments in favour of diversity for his string Number 23, on the request of the CSA.

SFR is committed to “strengthen the hand of journalists representative of the diversity of French society” on Number 23, and to value once per week, an initiative in favour of social cohesion, or diversity, or even to disseminate a majority of films from asia, africa or Latin america.

50% of programmes of the channel will also be accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and SFR will appoint a “director of diversity” which will provide an annual report to the CSA, as it is committed to the chief executive of Altice France, Alain Weill, in a letter published by the CSA.

These commitments made to the regulator of the audiovisual sector are as a result of its decision to the most emblematic : in October 2015, the CSA had ordered the closure of Number 23 and blocked his controversial project of sales to the group NextRadioTV (BFMTV, RMC) for an amount of around 90 million euros.

The regulator has estimated that this sale was speculation, fraudulent the frequency on which the public assigned free of charge by the State. The sages also criticized to Number 23 not to comply with its commitments on diversity, the basis of the project of the chain, and critical of its programs, including the place of those devoted to tattoos (“Ink Master”).

The string had been saved in early 2016 by the Council of State, which had held that the “fraud” referred to by the CSA “n'(was) not demonstrated.” Altice is then entered gradually, through SFR, to the share capital of NextRadioTV, a takeover already approved by the competition Authority in June 2017, prior to this definitive green light given by the CSA.

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