M6

Metropolis Television 6 , more known under the name of M6 , is a Television channel French general practitioner commercial private which emits since March 1st 1987.

History of the chain

CLT, already present in France with the radio RTL, sought, since the liberalization of the waves in Europe in the middle of the years 1980, to be established more still with a television channel. Since 1955, RTL Television was diffused in the East of France and had proven reliable in term of success of audience, but its programs increasingly expensive force it to widen its basin of diffusion. As of 1985, the CLT hesitates between a diffusion of its chain over the satellite of direct diffusion TDF 1 or a national hertzian diffusion in France over one of the two new networks announced by the president Mitterrand. It chooses this last solution and postulates near the High ranking authority of the audio-visual communication to obtain the concession on the fifth incipient terrestrial network. Déboutée with the profit of Five of Seydoux and Berlusconi, CLT retente its chance in 1986, following the cancellation of the concessions of the fifth and sixth networks by the government Chirac, while being based on the friendships maintained with Jacques Chirac and several members the government by Jacques Stone, president of radio RTL and administrator of the group in France, to make sure obtaining by CNCL of the concession on the fifth network. She is unaware of however that this network was already promised with another friend of the Prime Minister, the press baron, Robert Harrowing. After déboutéebeing again déboutée, Jacques Rigaud expresses the evening even on the antenna of RTL, its concern as for the perenniality of the activities of its group in France and even threatens to suspend them purely and simply. The government does not have an other choice only to make pressure on CNCL for attribution, in compensation, of the sixth terrestrial network to CLT while prohibiting to him however to be the majority shareholder and to name his chain RTL about it in order not to return this exchange of good too visible process. The group is thus constrained to give up its project RTL6 , which consisted in installing on this network RTL Television after having reformatée it, and thus joins the Lyonnaise Water, which takes the majority of the capital, on a new project of television channel, baptized Métropole Television (as for better affirming its character national and French), entrusted to the former chairman of Antenne 2, Jean Drucker, charged with presenting this candidature for CNCL. Following the cancellation of its concession on the sixth terrestrial network by CNCL at the request of the government Chirac with the profit of the CLT, TV6, music channel whose authorization of one year emission was not renewed, is definitively extinct on March 1st 1987 at midnight, leaving during 11 hours the France with five chains. This same March 1st with 11:15, test card TDF leaves room to a beam still titrated RTL Paris which opens suddenly on the slides of the first plate of the new chain. M6 , begins its diffusion when Jean Drucker appears, chairman of Metropolis Television, which accommodates the televiewers. The program of this first day, presented by Georges Lang, coldly unloaded RTL Television, and Charlotte Siandre is an emission of plate receiving the organizers of the new emissions coming to present their concept. The majority of these first emissions are directly imported of RTL Television, like Mégaventure of Philippe Goffin or Hit of the clubs of Jean-Luc Bertrand. The fictions, films and series of the chain result also from the catalog of CLT and good numbers of the leaders, journalists and organizers of RTL Television came to lend strong hand to the starting of M6. Jean Stock, which has just left the management of the programs of RTL Television to take that of M6, copies the grid of the programs of M6 from March in September 1987 on that of its elder Luxembourg, persuaded that the same receipts will bring same success. Thus, M6 installs each day with 12:45 and 19:30 a Tv news, presented by Patrick Charles and Marian Lacombe who earlier presented the JTL of RTL Television per same hour a few months. But the sixth French network counts few transmitters, therefore few televiewers, and the chain must re-examine its ambitions with the fall as of the re-entry of September 1987. The organizers of RTL Television return to Luxembourg and Jean Stock installs a grid minimalist centered on the against-programming with less emissions and more clips and series. The new preparing, less foil, arrive at the antenna on August 31st and the first 6 minutes is diffused with 20:24. It spends the following year to 19:54 to steal early product of information to the 20 hour old newspapers and to allow the diffusion of family series like the Cosby Show during the newspapers of the other French chains.

Of 1987 with 1991, the future of M6 is very dubious because five hertzian general channels must fight for the conquest of the TV rating and thus of their main income, publicity. However, the French advertizing market is not extensible ad infinitum. In 1988, the Secretary of State to the Communication, Catherine Tasca, in an interview with Télérama , will speak about a “general channel about too”. Everyone thinks then of M6, whose deficit nothing but does grow hollow (1 franc million of loss per day). But the strategy of Jean Drucker consists in growing gradually. The against-programming starts to pay and M6 is then “the small chain which goes up, which goes up” according to its commercials.

With died of the Five in April 1992, M6, profiting this disappearance, becomes profit for the first time of its history.

Starting from 2001, M6 is the first French chain to diffuse an emission of Télé reality, Loft Story . Success is immense and the records of audience are beaten, in spite of the discussed quality of this program, more than eleven million televiewers follow the final. The vice-president and managing director of the concurrent chain TF1, Etienne Mougeotte puts full the eyes and promises of them whereas never its chain will not diffuse this kind of program. However, a few months later, TF1 sign a franchise agreement with the company Endemol which had created Loft Story for M6. With the second season of Loft Story in 2002, M6 offers the historical records of the chain with 8,2 million televiewers in premium time.

In 2004, M6 is the private second channel, behind TF1, in market shares and the first chain near the children. M6 buys the chain TV Paris Première.

at the beginning of 2006, after one year of mobile television on thanks to the 3G, M6 is classified like the first chain looked on the mobiles in front of LCI.

After its famous slogan " 0% foot" at the time of the Football world cup of 1998, M6 is the first official diffuser of the Football world cup of 2006 with the diffusion of 31 meetings out of 64 with accompanying notes by the former commentator high-speed motorboat of TF1, Thierry Roland, arrived on M6 on October 26th, 2005. However the chain diffuses only the meetings of second choice, TF1 having obtained the rights of the most prestigious matches, of which semi-finals and the final, as well as the whole of the meetings of the team of France.

The current image of M6 is marked by the topics of these programs which aim mainly a public of teenagers and young adults. Through a broad pallet of programs, M6 positions always more like one young and modern chain par excellence, with sometimes of criticisms as for the quality of the programs. In 2006, the chain creates an head office of the antennas and contents directed by Thomas Valentine. The management of the programs is then entrusted to Bibiane Godfroid (chairman of FreemantleMedia France). This year there, the chain pack its record of audience of a series with Prison Station-wagon followed by more than 7,5 million televiewers.

Since January 5th, 2007, M6 is available on bouquets ADSL of the operators Free, Orange, Neuf Cegetel and Club Internet.

For its 20 years, M6 changed preparing antenna on March 6th, 2007 with a logo into 3D, but did not change a logo, as that had been evoked by Internet sites.

Saturdays May 12th 2007, a power cut with Neuilly-sur-Seine, seat of the antenna, strongly disturbed the diffusion of the programs of the totality of the chains of the group between 20:00 and 22:30, one variable duration according to the chain and the means of diffusion. The chains concerned were M6, W9, Paris Première, Téva, Fun TV, M6 Music Hits, M6 Music Black, M6 Music Rock, M6 Boutique the Chain, just as M6 Suisse. The interruption touched as much the hertzian diffusion as the diffusion on TNT, the satellite or ADSL.

Random links: