“We chose simplicity. The channel will be called T18. T is for television, because we believe in this medium. And 18, which corresponds to our numbering,” declared Christopher Baldelli, the boss of this future channel. It is a name that is “distinctive, clear and easy to remember,” added Denis Olivennes, president of CMI France, the group that launched it and is controlled by Mr. Kretinsky.
Eleven TNT (digital terrestrial television) frequencies were reassigned in December by Arcom. The regulator selected two new channels, the one launched by CMI France and another by Ouest-France, and excluded two outgoing channels, C8 and NRJ12, whose authorizations expire on February 28.
As a result of these changes, Arcom modified the numbering of certain channels on Monday. Among them, that of CMI France inherited number 18 and that of Ouest-France 19.
The new numbering will be implemented all at once on June 6, and not in sequences from March, the expiry date of the current frequencies. T18 was initially scheduled to start on March 1st but will finally begin broadcasting on June 6th. The Ouest-France channel will debut on September 1st.
-Empire in the media
“T18 will have a budget of just over thirty million euros per year at cruising speed,” according to its managers. The program schedule will be structured around three pillars: documentaries, entertainment and debates. The channel will be aimed at “the general public, and more particularly 25-49 year olds as well as CSP+”, specified Mr. Baldelli. These two targets are popular with advertisers, while the television advertising market is currently tense.
Even if T18 will lose money initially before building an audience, it “is not intended to be eternally in deficit”, indicated its managers, who hope to “achieve a small balance within four years” . Its creation is part of “an industrial project, that of creating a multimedia group”, according to Mr. Baldelli.
