PARIS Reuters - Shares in French TV company M 6 slumped on Tuesday after Bertelsmann's RTL GroupRTL Group scrapped a plan to sell its controlling stake in M 6.
M 6 shares were down 4.1 percent in early session trading.
Bertelsmann, known for its high margins in a sector challenged by the competition of U.S. streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney M 6 will apply for a new five-year broadcast authoring authority from May 2023 after the sale of RTL's 48.3% stake in M 6 means that the French TV network will have to wait five years before considering any new bids for a new five-year broadcast authorization from May 2023. Under French law, it can't change its controlling shareholder once granted by France's audiovisual authority, Arcom.
RTL and Bouygues, which is the parent of France's biggest private television network TF 1, ended a plan to merge M 6 and TF 1 into a national television champion last month, saying demands by the French competition authority made it unworkable.