TF1 Group

History

The history of TF1 traces back to 1975, when the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF) was split into 7 successor institutions. Allegedly 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. On 16 April, Francis Bouygues, the president of Bouygues, presented a check of three billion francs to the government, completing the privatisation of TF1.

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. As part of the same transaction, the group raised its stake in WB Television to 49%.

On 21 December 2012, Discovery Communications (now known as Warner Bros. Discovery) purchased a 20% stake in Eurosport from TF1 Group for €170m. 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. On 22 July 2015, Discovery agreed to acquire TF1's remaining 49% stake in the venture. 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.

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.

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.

On 18 May 2021, TF1 Group and M6 Group announced that both companies have begun negotiations for a proposed merger. On 16 September 2022, the merger was officially abandoned due to the conditions ordered by the antitrust French authorities.

Some of its channels were affected by an outage on 19 July 2024.

On 23 November 2024, Sky News reported that CVC Capital Partners, TF1, RedBird Capital Partners, All3Media, Mediawan and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had been linked to a potential takeover bid for ITV plc and a possible break-up of core assets such as ITV Studios and ITVX. This could see TF1 name launched in UK.

Operations

• Studio TF1 - Paris-based TV production company
  • 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

Streaming service

• Salto from 2020 to 2023, with France Télévisions and Groupe M6
• TF1+

Television

Free-to-air

• TF1, channel 1
• TMC, channel 10
• TFX (launched in 2005 as NT1), channel 11
• TF1 Séries Films (launched in 2012 as HD1), channel 20
• LCI - La Chaîne Info (launched in 1994), channel 15

Pay

• TV Breizh (launched in 2000)
• TF1 International, TF1's international channel
• Histoire TV (launched in 1997)
• Ushuaïa TV (launched in 2005)
• Série Club - 50% stake with Groupe M6

Former

• JET
• Tfou TV
• Stylia (ex-Odyssée launched in 1996, closed in 2014) - 80% stake
• TF6 (closed in 2014) - 50% stake TF1 also had stakes in France 24, Pink TV, Eurosport and AB Groupe which were divested.

Online news site

TF1 INFO (current brand launched on 24 January 2022) brings together information provided by TF1 and LCI newscast editions.

Other assets

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

References

1. https://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/rodolphe-belmer-futur-patron-de-tf1-quitte-le-conseil-d-administration-de-netflix-20221021
2. TF1 Group, [https://www.groupe-tf1.fr/sites/default/files/pdf-financiers/management_report_tf1_group_2018_eng_vdef.pdf], retrieved 13 March 2019
3. TF1 Group, [https://www.groupe-tf1.fr/en/investors/shareholders/shareholding], retrieved 13 March 2019
4. (2007-05-19). "La grande et la petite histoire de TF1 revisitées avec sérieux et ironie". Le Monde.fr.
5. "TF1 (1975-1987)".
6. Le Galès, Yann. (30 December 2010). "TF1 autorisée à racheter TMC et NT1". [[Le Figaro]].
7. Vidalon, Dominique. (28 May 2009). "TF1 in exclusive talks to buy digital TV assets". [[Forbes]].
8. (2012-12-21). "TF1 & Discovery Communications finalize agreement and move forward to build three-tier strategic alliance across Eurosport, four payTV channels and production". TF1 Group.
9. (13 December 2012). "Discovery moves into sport with a 20% stake in Eurosport". The Guardian.
10. (22 July 2015). "Discovery to take full control of Eurosport".
11. "TF1 finalise la cession de OneCast à ITAS".
12. (11 July 2019). "France's Newen Acquires Canadian Outfit Reel One (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
13. "Canal+ arrête de diffuser les chaînes TF1 en raison d'un désaccord commercial".
14. (18 May 2021). "France's TF1 & M6 Enter Exclusive Merger Negotiations to Create $4B Media Giant".
15. "TF1 & M6 Propose Merger; Vungle Acquires TreSensa - ExchangeWire.com".
16. (16 September 2022). "Proposed merger between TF1 and M6 group abandoned, companies say". [[Reuters]].
17. (19 July 2024). "DIRECT. Panne mondiale chez Microsoft : après l’Australie, la France, la Belgique, le Royaume-Uni, le Japon sont touchés". La Voix du Nord.
18. (19 July 2024). "Aéroports, entreprises et hôpitaux perturbés par la plus grande panne informatique de l’histoire". Le Monde.
19. (2024-11-23). "ITV back in spotlight as suitors screen potential bids". [[Sky News]].
20. Nabyla, Daidj. (2014-09-30). "Developing Strategic Business Models and Competitive Advantage in the Digital Sector". IGI Global.
21. (14 January 2022). "TF1 lance un JT à la carte". [[L'Echo]].