Obligations of the audiovisual media services published by the M6 group - Annual report 2020

Summary

The year 2020 was marked by the Covid 19 crisis and health restrictions, which had an impact on TV programming. As a result, news programming increased on M6 and W9, animation on Gulli and 6ter, and magazine documentaries on 6ter.

Following decree no. 2020-984 of August 5, 2020, which raised the ceilings on the number of cinematographic works that channels are authorized to show, and abolished "forbidden days", with the exception of Saturday evening, the number of cinematographic works shown on all the group's free-to-air channels, as well as on Paris Première and Téva, increased.

For the four free-to-air channels of the M6 group, a drop in the hourly volume of advertising screens was noted, particularly during the spring 2020 confinement, due to the cancellation of numerous advertising campaigns.

As of January 1, 2020, three M6 channels have had their agreements renewed: W9, Gulli and Paris Première.

The W9 and Paris Première agreements have strengthened a number of stipulations relating to the representation of women, the dignity of individuals and the fight agains stereotypes, programs promoting healthy eating and activity, and program accessibility. With regard to Paris Première, at the publisher's request, the Conseil agreed to increase the number of category III programs that could be shown between 8:30 and 10:00 pm.

Despite the programming upheavals caused by the periods of confinement, all the M6 group's free-to-air and pay channels met their legal and contractual obligations overall in 2020, both in terms of diffusion (broadcast quotas for works and specific obligations quantified in almost their entirety) and investments in cinematic production. Obligations to contribute to audiovisual production have also been met overall, with the exception of the commitment to invest in the production of musical programs and entertainment programs with a musical component (the health crisis has led to cancellations and significant restrictions on live performances and musical entertainment and variety programs, for which the Group's investments have fallen sharply compared with 2019). On-demand audiovisual media services (SMAD), for their part, complied with the provisions of Decree no. 2010-1379 in fiscal 2019.

On the other hand, three of the Group's five DTT channels reported a decline in the presence of women compared with the previous year. In this respect, M6 and Paris Première have encountered difficulties in complying with the provisions of article 2-3-12 of their agreements, due in particular to the special year of 2020, marked by the health crisis.

In a decision dated December 22, 2021, the Board decided to warn M6, W9, 6ter and Paris Première against repeating a breach of their obligation set out in article 4-1-4 of their agreement, consisting in the late submission of their report on the conditions of performance of their obligations and commitments for the previous financial year, conventionally scheduled for April 30 for M6, W9 and Paris Première and May 31 for 6ter.