Franco-Lebanese tycoon acquires French media giants

French TV channel BFM-TV and radio station RMC have a new owner after Franco-Lebanese businessman Rodolphe Saadé bought them for a combined €1.55billion.

Mr Saadé, whose father founded logistics and shipping company CMA-CGM, is France’s fifth-richest person, according to the weekly business magazine Challenges. 

His other media acquisitions in recent years include La Tribune and regional Provence dailies, as well as stakes in TV channel M6.

Until May this year, BFM-TV laid claim to being France’s most-watched news channel, before being usurped by the right-wing CNews.

The latter – the French version of Fox News in the US – averaged 2.8% of TV viewers to BFM-TV’s 2.7%.

Read more: Right-wing TV news channel CNews becomes most popular in France

Patrick Drahi's debts

BFM-TV was formerly owned by Patrick Drahi, founder and controlling shareholder of the European-based telecom group Altice, which also owns the Israel-based international news channel i24news.

He is currently selling off parts of his empire to reduce his debts, including a stake he had in BT (formerly British Telecom).

In theory, media owners do not have much, or any, influence on editorial direction as most traditional newspapers and broadcasters have charters setting out editorial independence.

However, there have been growing fears over the concentration of ownership in the hands of a few rich individuals and families. 

Who owns France's media?

Le Monde Diplomatique publishes an annual graphic showing who owns what in the media.

The most up-to-date edition, drawn up before the BFM-TV deal was completed, lists 29 mainly French individuals and families; two banks, Crédit Agricole and Crédit Mutuel; a Catholic religious order Les Augustins de l’Assomption; charitable foundation Fondation Varenne; the French state; and the German state. 

The latter part-owns the Arte TV station – a European public service channel dedicated to culture.

France is different from the UK in that the main national newspapers have relatively small circulations compared to large regional publications.

The nationals are now mainly owned by rich families and individuals: Le Figaro by the Dassault family (producer of fighter and business jets); Libération by Patrick Drahi; Le Monde by Xavier Niel ('Free' mobile phones and internet service provider); Les Echos and Le Parisien by Bernard Arnault, France’s richest man and owner of LVMH luxury goods group; and the weekly Paris Match magazine by Vincent Bolloré.

Bolloré, the 12th-richest person in France and controversial for supporting the far-right while being a devout Catholic, also owns CNews.

Elsewhere in broadcasting, the French state owns France Televisions (France 2, France 3, France 4 and France 5 TV stations) as well as RFi, France 24 and MCD radio and TV stations, which are aimed at international audiences.

Read more: Make sense of French television’s role in social and cultural life

Groupe TF1, which runs TF1, LCI, TMC and TFX channels, is jointly owned by the Bouygues family and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who also owns the magazines Elle, Marianne, Télé 7 Jours and Franc-Tireur.