Antennes Locales (later Cap Télé Groupe) was a French television
network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics ...
established in 2002 and closed in 2011. It aimed to become the country's first private national network by aggregating local stations, either pre-existing or created for the country's then-new
digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...
service (DTT). It eventually succumbed to a combination of low revenue and undercapitalization at parent company Groupe Hersant Média.
History
Origins
Antennes Locales was launched in July 2002 by Jacques Rosselin, co-founder of
Courrier International
''Courrier International'' ( French for "International Mail") is a Paris-based French weekly newspaper which translates and publishes excerpts of articles from over 900 international newspapers. It also has a Portuguese and a Japanese edition. '' ...
and Emmanuel de Moutis, president of Wunderman-Cato-Johnson France. As with Courrier International,
Pierre Bergé
Pierre Vital Georges Bergé (; 14 November 1930 – 8 September 2017) was a French industrialist and patron. He co-founded the fashion label Yves Saint Laurent, and was a longtime business partner (and onetime life partner) of its namesake des ...
and Yves Saint-Laurent's investment fund Berlys Développement was an early backer. The company's aim was to position itself early on in the local TV market, which was primed for a massive overhaul in the following years. Historically, local TV had been a low value segment of the French television market, often merely subsidized by municipalities for the purpose of boosting the local public cable company's channel count. But the advent of DTT, which by law would guarantee slots to so-called "chaînes de proximité", seemingly held the potential of greater visibility – and viability – for those channels.
Groupe France Antilles was a major newspaper publisher although, as one of the entities resulting from the 1986 antitrust split of media mogul
Robert Hersant
Robert Hersant (30 January 1920 – 21 April 1996) was a French newspaper magnate. He was a leader in the pro-Nazi youth movement during the Vichy wartime years, but after prison time built a major newspaper empire and engaged in conservative ...
's empire, its portfolio of titles was viewed as unbalanced. France Antilles had owned a stake in Canal 32, a local channel based in Troyes, since its inception in 2001. The market was a stronghold of the group as it owned both the city's liberal and conservative dailies. Philippe Hersant, son of Robert and principal of Groupe France Antilles, saw a strategic opportunity to re-expand his side of the empire through television.
Takeover and growth
In March 2004, Groupe France Antilles acquired 34 percent of Antennes Locales. By November 2007, the now renamed Groupe Hersant Média had brought its stake to 100 percent. In early 2008, the Antennes Locales moniker was discontinued as Hersant Média' TV division was reorganized as "Cap Télé Groupe" under newly appointed director general Eric Hersant, Philippe's nephew.
At its peak, the network had seven channels, often co-owned with local investors such as regional branches of the Crédit Agricole and
Caisse d'Epargne
Caisse, a French word, may refer to:
*Caisse Desjardins, an association of credit unions in Quebec
*Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, a road-bicycle racing team
*Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a public pension fund in Quebec
*Caisse nati ...
Aube
Aube () is a French department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),Caen- Hérouville,
Calvados
Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears.
History In France
Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Nor ...
)
*Orléans TV
* TéléGrenoble
*TéléAlsace
* TéléMiroir ( Nîmes, Gard)
In addition, Hersant Média held interests in channels that were not officially part of Antennes Locales/Cap Télé Groupe like TV8 Mont-Blanc, Antilles Télévision (through the
France-Antilles
''France-Antilles'' is a daily, French-language newspaper published in Guadeloupe and Martinique. The newspaper is owned by Groupe Hersant Média. ''France-Antilles''. It also publishes a sister publication in French Guiana
French Guiana ...
newspaper) and La Chaîne Marseillaise (despite its failed bid for the Marseille DTT license, GHM still became involved with the eventual channel through its 2008 acquisition of La Provence, which had a stake in the winning project). Through his Editions Suisses publishing group, Philippe Hersant also held a participation in the Swiss channels Léman Bleu and TVM3, respectively based in the
agglomerations.
To support the young network, Hersant Média partnered with
France Télévisions
France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...
and
NRJ Group
The NRJ Group (NRJ is an acronym read as ''énergie'' in French, pronounced ) () is a French multimedia group based in Paris. Its founders are Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini. Since its foundation in 1981 as a French pop music radio ...
to start Uni TV, an advertising sales agency tailored for local televisions.
Contraction and closure
While it was the largest operator of local channels in the country, Hersant Média never managed to secure a truly dominant position nationwide. The network experienced a substantial setback when its TéléAlsace cable channel, a rare wholly owned entity, lost on the new DTT licence in the Strasbourg-
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning '' mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace a ...
market to rival Alsatic TV, which was led by a strong coalition of regional players including
Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace
''Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace'', commonly known as ''DNA'', is a regional daily French newspaper covering the Alsace region.
History and profile
''DNA'' was created in November 1877 as ''Neueste Nachrichten'' by German Heinrich Ludwig Kays ...
,
L'Alsace
''L'Alsace-Le Pays'' is a regional daily French newspaper. ''L'Alsace'' covers the Alsace region and ''Le Pays'' the Franche-Comté region.
History and profile
''L'Alsace-Le Pays'' was created in November 1944. In addition to its headquarters in ...
SIG Basket
Strasbourg Illkirch-Graffenstaden Basket, most commonly known as SIG Basket or SIG Strasbourg, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Strasbourg. The club, founded in 1929, competes domestically in the French Pro A League, and i ...
. This forced the premature shutdown of TéléAlsace after less than two years of existence.
Another market that eluded the group was Lyon where
Le Progrès
''Le Progrès'' is a regional daily newspaper which is based in Lyon, Rhône.
''Le Progrès'' reports primarily on local news in the Rhône-Alpes region. The paper has its headquarters in Lyon. The print works is in Chassieu, near Lyon. The fo ...
, ironically a former Robert Hersant publication, secured the DTT licence for its Télé Lyon Métropole channel at the expense of Philippe Hersant's project.
Other markets the company targeted without success included Perpignan, Montpellier and Le Mans.
In addition, the group never followed through on channels for which it had won licenses in the
Champagne-Ardennes
Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of th ...
,
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
-
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...
and
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
-
Hyères
Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
The old town lies from the sea clustered arou ...
markets.
Ultimately, despite occasionally relying on recognized personalities to promote the venture, Hersant Média was not able to make it a money-making proposition. Harmstrung by a loss of advertising revenue incurred by the 2008 recession and free Internet competition for its paid
classified magazines
Classified may refer to:
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*Classified advertising or "classifieds"
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, the group ceded its portfolio of local channels to separate regional investors. The last remaining Antennes Locales channel, Canal 32, was sold to its management in March 2011. The group lost more than 40 million Euros on the failed network.
See also
*
BFM Régions
BFM Régions is a French network of local news television channels, property of Altice. It is partially modeled after the American News 12 Networks, which Altice also owns through its 2016 purchase of Cablevision.
The network is part of the B ...
, a successor network
*
Vià
Vià (stylised as vià) is a French television network. It started as a southern regional network in 2010, before going national in 2018, and subsequently contracting again due to economic problems.
History
Origins
When its national network An ...