Introduction

Press, radio and TV markets are affected by a growing concentration in which main media outlets are held by fewer companies and significantly by French billionaire businessmen who turned media moguls. Accordingly it’s illuminating to list the biggest media groups that cross-own various media outlets, at the time of writing.  

  • French state: TV (100 percent of France TV group + LCP, Public Sénat, France 24, TV5 Monde, 50 percent of ARTE), radio (100 percent of Radio France group + RFI, Monte Carlo Doualiya), website Ina.fr.
  • Vivendi (run by Vincent Bolloré): TV group Canal+ (3 free channels and 6 payed including Canal+, free print daily press (CNews-former Direct Matin).
  • RTL group (owned by Bertelsmann): TV (8 channels), radio (3 stations), print press (Prisma Presse group; 28 print magazines of travel (including Geo), business (Capital, Management, Harvard Business Review), TV, celebrity (including Gala, Voici, VSD) and 5 pure players.
  • TF1 (owned by Bouygues group): 9 TV channels (including TF1), online news sites.
  • Lagardère Active (Lagardère holding run by Arnaud Lagardère): 11 TV channels (including two for kids, six for music), 3 radio stations (Europe 1 and two music stations: Virgin, RFM), 1 weekly newspaper (Le Journal du Dimanche) and 13 magazines (including Paris Match, Elle), many websites.
  • LVMH Media (owned by Bernard Arnault): one radio station (Radio Classique), two daily newspapers (Les Echos, Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France), magazines (including Investir).
  • Le Figaro (held by Dassault Media): one daily (Le Figaro), many websites.
  • Amaury group: one TV channel (L’Equipe), five sports magazines.
  • Le Monde group (owned by Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse): one daily (Le Monde), 13 magazines (including L’Obs, Télérama, Courrier International, La Vie, Le Monde diplomatique).
  • Bayard (100 percent owned by the Augustinians): one daily (La Croix), numerous magazines.
  • SFR Média (Altice, owned by Patrick Drahi): 12 TV channels (including BFM TV, BFM Business, BFM Sport), three radio stations (RMC, BFM Business, RMC Sport), one daily (Libération), various print magazines.
  • Mondadori France (held by the Italian group Fininvest managed by Silvio Berlusconi): numerous magazines.
  • Artémis (owned by François Pinault): three print magazines (including Le Point).