TF1 Group (French: Groupe TF1) is a French media holding company. Its best-known property is the broadcast network TF1.

TF1 Group
Native name
Groupe TF1
Company typePublic (Société anonyme)
Euronext ParisTFI
CAC Mid 60 Component
IndustryMedia
PredecessorsORTF
Founded6 January 1975
16 April 1987 (privatized)
FounderGovernment of France
HeadquartersTF1 Tower, ,
Key people
Gilles Pélisson (Chairman and CEO)
ProductsTelevision broadcasting and production, websites, media investments
RevenueIncrease €2.288 billion (2018)
Increase €174 million (2018)
Increase €128 million (2018)
Total assetsDecrease €3.157 billion (2018)
Number of employees
3,135 (2018)
ParentBouygues (43.8%)
Websitewww.groupe-tf1.fr
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

The group was formed after TF1 was privatized in April 1987. It is controlled with a 43% stake by Bouygues, and is quoted on Euronext Paris.

History

edit

The history of TF1 traces back to 1975, when the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF) was split into 7 successor institutions. To provide competition for Canal+, La Cinq and M6, the French government decided to privatize TF1. In April 1987, the construction conglomerate Bouygues won the resulting auction for the sale of TF1, ahead of the Lagardère Group.[3] On 16 April, Francis Bouygues, the president of Bouygues, presented a check of three billion francs to the government, completing the privatisation of TF1.[3][4]

In June 2009, TF1 Group agreed to buy the NT1 channel from AB Groupe, as well as AB's 40% stake in TMC Monte Carlo (which would take TF1's total stake to 80%). The deal was cleared by France's competition authority and subsequently by the Council of State in December 2010, dismissing an appeal by Métropole Télévision.[5] As part of the same transaction, the group raised its stake in WB Television to 49%.[6]

On 21 December 2012, Discovery Communications (now known as Warner Bros. Discovery) purchased a 20% stake in Eurosport from TF1 Group for €170m.[7] Discovery had the option to increase its stake to 51% in 2014. If Discovery exercised that option, TF1 Group was entitled to then exercise a put option over the remaining 49% that would see Discovery take full control.[8] On 22 July 2015, Discovery agreed to acquire TF1's remaining 49% stake in the venture.[9] Discovery also took a 20% share in TV Breizh, Histoire, Ushuaia TV and Stylia – for €14m, with the option of increasing its shareholding to 49% in each channel in 2014. Discovery and TF1's production arm will also work together on making programmes.[10]

TF1 Group's Newen agree to acquire a majority stake in Reel One of Montreal in July 2019. Current owner and CEO Tom Berry would retain a minority stake in the company.[11]

In December 2017, the TF1 group finds an agreement with the Canal+ group, The MYTF1 service and thus restored on CANAL decoders and on myCanal and also the control of live (Start-Over) is possible on myCanal. A similar episode occurs in September 2022.[12]

On 18 May 2021, TF1 Group and M6 Group announced that both companies have begun negotiations for a proposed merger.[13][14] On 16 September 2022, the merger was officially abandoned due to competition concerns by the antitrust French authorities.[15]

Some of its channels were affected by an outage on 19 July 2024.[16][17]

Operations

edit
  • Newen - Paris-based TV production company[11]
    • Capa Drama, French banners
    • Telfrance, French banners
    • Nimbus, Denmark
    • Tuvalu, Netherlands
    • Pupkin, Netherlands
    • De Mensen, Belgium
    • BlueSpirit, Canadian animation company
    • Reel One, Canadian production outfit[11]

Streaming service

edit

Television

edit

TF1 Group owns or has a direct stake in the following television channels:[citation needed]

Free-to-air

edit
  • TF1, channel 1
  • TMC, channel 10
  • TFX (launched in 2005 as NT1), channel 11
  • TF1 Séries Films (launched in 2012 as HD1), channel 20[18]
  • LCI - La Chaîne Info (launched in 1994), channel 26

Former

edit
  • JET
  • Tfou TV
  • Stylia (ex-Odyssée launched in 1996, closed in 2014) - 80% stake
  • TF6 (closed in 2014) - 50% stake

Online newspaper

edit

TF1 INFO (launched on 24 January 2022) brings together information provided by TF1 and LCI newscast editions.[19]

Other assets

edit

The firm holds a number of other interests in the advertising, internet and publishing fields, including Aufeminin and 34% of Metro International's operations in France.

References

edit
  1. ^ TF1 Group, [1], retrieved 13 March 2019
  2. ^ TF1 Group, [2], retrieved 13 March 2019
  3. ^ a b "La grande et la petite histoire de TF1 revisitées avec sérieux et ironie". Le Monde.fr (in French). 19 May 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  4. ^ "TF1 (1975-1987)". FranceArchives (in French). Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  5. ^ Le Galès, Yann; Renault, Enguérand (30 December 2010). "TF1 autorisée à racheter TMC et NT1". Le Figaro (in French). Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  6. ^ Vidalon, Dominique; Jacobs, Caroline (28 May 2009). "TF1 in exclusive talks to buy digital TV assets". Forbes. Reuters. Retrieved 19 September 2009.[dead link]
  7. ^ "TF1 & Discovery Communications finalize agreement and move forward to build three-tier strategic alliance across Eurosport, four payTV channels and production" (Press release). TF1 Group. 21 December 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  8. ^ "Discovery moves into sport with a 20% stake in Eurosport". The Guardian. 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 11 December 2013.
  9. ^ "Discovery to take full control of Eurosport". broadbandtvnews.com. 22 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  10. ^ "TF1 finalise la cession de OneCast à ITAS". CB News (in French). Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  11. ^ a b c Keslassy, Elsa (11 July 2019). "France's Newen Acquires Canadian Outfit Reel One (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Canal+ arrête de diffuser les chaînes TF1 en raison d'un désaccord commercial". iGeneration (in French). Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  13. ^ "France's TF1 & M6 Enter Exclusive Merger Negotiations to Create $4B Media Giant". 18 May 2021. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021.
  14. ^ "TF1 & M6 Propose Merger; Vungle Acquires TreSensa - ExchangeWire.com". www.exchangewire.com. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  15. ^ "Proposed merger between TF1 and M6 group abandoned, companies say". Reuters. 16 September 2022. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  16. ^ "DIRECT. Panne mondiale chez Microsoft : après l'Australie, la France, la Belgique, le Royaume-Uni, le Japon sont touchés". La Voix du Nord (in French). 19 July 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  17. ^ "Aéroports, entreprises et hôpitaux perturbés par la plus grande panne informatique de l'histoire". Le Monde (in French). 19 July 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  18. ^ Nabyla, Daidj (30 September 2014). Developing Strategic Business Models and Competitive Advantage in the Digital Sector. IGI Global. ISBN 9781466665149.
  19. ^ Sacré, Jean-François; Souris, Simon (14 January 2022). "TF1 lance un JT à la carte" [TF1 launches an à la carte television newscast]. L'Echo (in French). Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
edit