Origins Antennes Locales was launched in July 2002 by Jacques Rosselin, co-founder of
Courrier International and Emmanuel de Moutis, president of
Wunderman-Cato-Johnson France. As with Courrier International,
Pierre Bergé and
Yves Saint-Laurent's investment fund Berlys Développement was an early backer. which was primed for a massive overhaul in the following years. 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. often co-owned with local investors such as regional branches of the
Crédit Agricole and
Caisse d'Epargne banks: •
Cap 24 (
Greater Paris) •
Canal 32 (
Troyes,
Aube) • CityZen TV (
Caen-
Hérouville,
Calvados) • 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 Antilles Télévision (through the
France-Antilles 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). To support the young network, Hersant Média partnered with
France Télévisions and
NRJ Group 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 market to rival Alsatic TV, which was led by a strong coalition of regional players including
Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace,
L'Alsace,
RC Strasbourg and
SIG Basket. This forced the premature shutdown of TéléAlsace after less than two years of existence. 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,
Nice-
Cannes and
Toulon-
Hyères 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 financial crisis and the
Great Recession and free Internet competition for its paid
classified magazines, 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==