A week after the failure of the merger project between TF1 and M6, the TF1 group announced on Friday, September 23, that Rodolphe Belmer would replace Gilles Pélisson as president and chief executive officer (CEO).
This move will be proposed to the board of directors on October 27, to take office in February 2023, according to a press release. Meanwhile, Gilles Pélisson will retain a non-executive presidency. He then he will become “Deputy General Manager of the Bouygues Group in charge of media and development”.
Rodolphe Belmer, 53, has spent most of his career at the helm of Canal+, which he directed from 2003 to 2015. Until last July, he was CEO of the French IT group Atosafter serving as CEO of the satellite operator Eutelsat Communications from 2016 to 2021. In parallel, Mr. Belmer has been a member of the board of directors of the American streaming giant, Netflix, since 2018 and has chaired the Series Mania Festival since 2019.
“Responding to the multiple challenges of the world of new media”
“I am convinced that together we will be able to meet the many challenges of the new world of media and open up new prospects for development and growth in the era of the TF1 group” digital, said Mr. Belmer, quoted in the TF1 press release.
TF1 and M6 announced on September 16 that they were abandoning the merger due to the concessions demanded by the Competition Authority. This one subordinated its green light to the sale of the TF1 or M6 channels to another actor, to avoid the creation of a giant that, according to him, would have distorted the advertising market.