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French groups TF1 and M6 propose merger

Published

5 years ago

May 18, 2021

MUMBAI: Fierce competition forces alliances upon nations, people, and companies. As it is doing in the media and entertainment globally today. Close on the heels of the announcement of the merger between AT&T’s Warner Media and Discovery, reports of another fusion between two media groups in France have emerged. The two in question are TF1 and M6 (pronounced Seez) groups.

TF1 is owned by the Bouygues group, while M6’s ownership lies with European production and TV broadcaster RTL, which is part of media giant Bertlesmann. The two will be housed in a new French company in which Bouygues would hold 30 per cent and RTL 16 per cent. The former will acquire 11 per cent equity from the latter for Euros 641 million.

The proposal has got the go-ahead from the RTL, Bouygues, TFI, and M6 boards, but has to get over the regulatory hurdles from French authorities and is proposed to close by the end-2022. The merged company would have a 2020 pro forma revenue of €3.4bn and a current operating profit of €461M. The synergies potential (EBITDA run-rate impact) is estimated at €250M to €350M per year within three years from the closing of the transaction.

M6 CEO Nicolas de Tavernost has been proposed as chairman & CEO of the merged entity while chairman and CEO of TF1 Gilles Pélisson will be nominated as deputy CEO of Groupe Bouygues in charge of media and development.

A new ad-supported service, combining catch-up and live streaming and based on existing services MyTF1 and 6play, would be developed, alongside an SVoD service and a production hub for local and international content.

What’s forcing the two to merge? Well a press release issued by RTL gives some insights.

It says the two groups are active in a growing total video market where increasingly rich, original, and exclusive content is driving long-term audience growth. Even as linear TV remains powerful, it is undergoing a structural transformation with a strong shift towards on-demand consumption which is being led by global platforms making deep pushes in the French advertising market.

“The combination of these two players, of the know-how of their employees and their strong brands, would allow the new group to invest more and to step up innovation. The proposed merger is critical to ensure the long-term independence of French content creation and to continue to offer diversified and premium local content to the benefit of all viewers,” said the statement.

“The merger between Groupe TF1 and Groupe M6 is a great opportunity to create a French total video champion that will guarantee independence, quality of content, and pluralism – values that have long been shared by our two groups,” said Pélisson. “It will be an asset in promoting French culture. Groupe TF1 now approaches a new stage in its development, consistent with the strategic vision developed in the past five years.”

“The consolidation of the French television and audio-visual markets is an absolute necessity if the French audience and the industry as a whole are to continue to play a predominant role in the face of exacerbated international competition, which is accelerating rapidly,” added de Tavernost. “The combination of the two groups’ know-how will allow for an ambitious French response. Furthermore, this proposed merger of Groupe M6 and Groupe TF1 is the only transaction offering value creation for all Groupe M6 shareholders.”

“The audio-visual market benefits from long-term growth. In this context, Groupe Bouygues is pleased to contribute to the creation of a major French media group able to compete with the GAFANs,” highlighted Groupe Bouygues CEO Olivier Roussat. “We are pleased with this major development and partnership which confirms Groupe Bouygues’ commitment to the media since 1987. As shareholders with exclusive control over the new group, we will continue to provide it with our full support.”

RTL CEO Thomas Rabe said the proposed merger of Groupe TF1 and Groupe M6 would be a major step in implementing the strategy to create national media champions across the European footprint. “It demonstrates how in-country consolidation creates significant value. As a strategic investor, we will be long-term industrial partners of Groupe Bouygues,” he added.

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Food for thought Feeding India serves 23 crore meals and counting

Published

1 week ago

January 29, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Hunger may be stubborn, but Feeding India is proving it is not unbeatable. The not-for-profit has served more than 23 crore meals over the past seven years, turning nourishment into a nationwide movement that now spans over 150 cities, according to its Annual Report for FY 2024–25.

Titled A Year of Nourishing Dreams, the report captures a year in which the organisation sharpened its focus from simply filling plates to shaping futures. At the heart of its work is the fight against child malnutrition, with Feeding India now supporting over 1.4 lakh children every day through its partner network.

Its daily feeding programme has grown into a vast ecosystem, covering 1,097 partner schools and 726 Anganwadi centres. These include 275 formal schools, 720 informal learning centres, 58 schools for children with disabilities, and 32 orphan homes. Menus are tailored to local tastes, from rajma chawal in the North to idli sambhar in the South, ensuring meals are nutritious, culturally familiar and widely accepted. Food is provided through a mix of on-site kitchens and centralised cooking facilities.

Recognising that malnutrition often begins long before children enter classrooms, Feeding India has stepped deeper into early childhood care. Across districts such as Gurugram, Kushinagar and Varanasi, the organisation has worked with 726 Anganwadi centres, impacting around 27,000 children aged 0–6 years. More than 30 Anganwadis have been upgraded using Building as Learning Aid concepts, creating brighter, safer and more child-friendly spaces. In Varanasi, a pilot programme now provides full breakfast and lunch meals, a significant shift from the usual supplementary snacks.

The year also tested the organisation’s ability to respond in crisis. During 2024–25, Feeding India distributed nearly 2,000 ration kits following floods in Assam and landslides in Kerala, and served over 1.9 lakh hot meals after the Uttarakhand cloudburst. Relief operations extended to Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the wake of Cyclone Fengal.

Community participation remains central to the model. Events such as the Zomato Feeding India Concert, featuring Dua Lipa, brought together 28,000 people in 2024, while initiatives like Poshan Potli nutrition kits supported tuberculosis patients during recovery in Varanasi.

Funding patterns underline the power of platforms. Zomato users contributed nearly 80 per cent of total funds, amounting to Rs 74 crore, while Blinkit customers added 15 per cent, or Rs 14 crore. The remaining around 5 per cent came from institutional donors, employees and direct website contributions. Donors can track their impact directly via the Zomato or Blinkit apps, seeing how many meals they have funded and where those meals were served.

The report also highlights tangible outcomes. At the Malvi Educational and Charitable Trust in Gujarat, students recorded an average BMI improvement of 9.50 per cent after daily nutritious meals were introduced.

“Every meal represents hope, dignity and opportunity for a child who might otherwise go hungry,” a Feeding India spokesperson said, adding that the focus remains on nourishing potential through nutrition, infrastructure and care.

As the numbers grow, the message is simple but powerful, feeding a child today is an investment in tomorrow, and Feeding India is determined to keep that promise alive, one meal at a time.

eNews

AI goes to class as MSDE, Google Cloud pilot smart skills framework

Published

1 week ago

January 29, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: If skills are the engine of Viksit Bharat, artificial intelligence is being fitted firmly under the bonnet. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud and Chaudhary Charan Singh University to build a national framework for modernising India’s vocational and higher education ecosystem using cloud and AI technologies.

Unveiled at Google’s AI for Learning Forum in Delhi, the initiative positions CCSU, Meerut as a national pilot institution that will test how AI can be embedded into everyday teaching, administration and skill development. The announcement was made in the presence of Jayant Chaudhary, alongside senior officials from the Ministries of Skill Development and Education.

At the heart of the pilot is the use of Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise platform to address real-world challenges faced by universities. These include automating administrative workflows, improving staff efficiency, supporting research, and enabling personalised learning through AI tutors and skill-gap analysis. The aim is to make learning more adaptive, efficient and aligned with evolving workforce needs.

The programme is designed to act as an equaliser. By enabling vernacular language support and personalised AI-driven mentorship, it seeks to extend access to high-quality learning tools to students in regional institutions who are often constrained by geography, language or resources. Faculty members will also be supported with AI tools to design curriculum content, simulations and multilingual teaching aids tailored to different learning speeds.

Beyond classrooms, the initiative focuses on operational reform. Intelligent document processing and automated workflows are expected to reduce administrative load, allowing institutions to function more efficiently while improving service delivery to students.

Crucially, the CCSU pilot will feed into a larger ambition. Insights from the project will be used by MSDE to develop a National Best Practice Framework that can guide more than 50,000 colleges and over 1,200 universities in adopting AI responsibly and self-certifying as “AI-enabled universities”.

As a designated Centre of Excellence, CCSU will also host knowledge-sharing sessions to demonstrate how AI can be scaled across India’s diverse education landscape. The goal is clear: ensure that future-ready skills are not confined to elite campuses, but become part of the everyday learning experience for students across the country.

eNews

Stop feeding the machine: Why Data Privacy Day 2026 is your wake-up call

Published

2 weeks ago

January 28, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: It is January 28, 2026. Today, the world observes Data Privacy Day. But let’s be honest: for the other 364 days of the year, we are usually too busy scrolling to care. We click “Accept All Cookies” to read an article. We trade our email addresses for 10% off a pair of sneakers. We spill our deepest thoughts to AI chatbots without wondering where that data goes.

The result? You are leaving a trail of “digital exhaust” that is being vacuumed up, packaged, and sold to the highest bidder.

Today is the day we hit the brakes. Privacy is no longer a luxury for the paranoid; it is a necessity for the free. Here is why this matters right now, and how you can fix it fast.

The New Threat: It’s not just hackers anymore
In the past, we worried about criminals stealing our credit card numbers. In 2026, the game has changed. The entity hungry for your data isn’t just a hoodie-wearing hacker in a basement—it’s the legitimate apps on your phone and the algorithms training on your behavior.

• The AI Mirror: Every prompt you type into a public AI model can theoretically become part of its brain. Your distinct writing style, your problems, and your ideas are the fuel.
• Biometric Overload: We pay with our faces and unlock doors with our fingerprints. If a password gets stolen, you change it. If your biometric data gets stolen, you can’t change your face.
• The “Free” Trap: If an app is free, you aren’t the customer; you are the product. Your location history, health stats, and spending habits are the inventory.

The 15-minute privacy sprint
You don’t need to go off the grid or move to a cabin in the woods. You just need to tighten the bolts. Here is your rapid-fire action plan for today:

1. Kill the zombies
We all have “zombie accounts”—old logins for fitness apps we used once in 2021 or shopping sites we forgot about. These are security holes waiting to happen.

The Fix: If you haven’t logged in for 12 months, delete the account. Not the app—the account.

2. Starve the chatbot
AI is useful, but it doesn’t need to know your secrets.

The Fix: Turn off “Chat History” in your AI settings where possible. Never enter financial details, legal documents, or medical info into a public Generative AI tool.

3. The “location” audit
Does your flashlight app need to know you are in a coffee shop? Does your calculator need your contact list? Absolutely not.

The Fix: Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services (on iOS or Android). Change permissions from “Always Allow” to “While Using” or, even better, “Never” for non-essential apps.

4. Ditch the SMS two-factor
Hackers can swap SIM cards easier than they can crack passwords. Receiving your 2FA codes via text message is the weak link in 2026.

The Fix: Switch to an Authenticator App or use a physical security key (like a YubiKey). It takes five minutes to set up and multiplies your security by ten.

The bottom line
Data Privacy Day isn’t about fear; it’s about agency.

Your data is an extension of your physical self. It is your identity, your history, and your future. By taking control of it, you aren’t just securing a device; you are reclaiming your right to be a person, rather than a data point.

Don’t wait for next January. Make privacy a habit, starting now.