Business Publishing Conforms, Business TV Not So Much

Michael Hedges June 15, 2020 - Follow on Twitter

News media focused on business and finance have long been big business. Subjects have been extended to personal finance, sports business, various trade segments and business lifestyle. The media has spread from the printed page to broadcasting and on to online media. Consumers of business and financial news range from executives and their workforces to stock traders and regular folks plotting their investments and retirements. The common thread is, obviously, money; how to get it and how to spend it.

A new television channel devoted to business news has begun rolling out on various French cable systems. B-Smart TV is part of CMI France, principally controlled (51%) by investor Daniel Kretinsky. Its impending arrival was announced last January. The other investor (49%) is Stéphane Soumier, late of another French business TV channel, BFM Business.

“It will be the channel of the audacious,” explained M. Soumier at a virtual press conference, quoted by Le Monde (June 9). “We will focus on four themes; jobs, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), tech and impact.” M. Soumier hooked up with M. Kretinski through Denis Olivennes, then president of CMI France, who recently left that post to co-manage the ostensibly “socialist” newspaper Libération.

“We want to study decision-making mechanisms,” continued M. Soumier. “We have to put an end to the idea of ;the almighty boss. Today, decisions are collective.” Expect a flood of interviews with and features about various SME owners. Each will tell their ten best friends to tune-in, maybe buy an ad. A few sponsors have already signed up.

Clarity of the business plan emerged the longer M. Soumier talked. One sponsor, he mentioned, has already written to the companies it finances to offer them on-air interviews in order to “gain visibility by presenting company, activity, and news. We open a window to these SMEs that do not have access to the press. Anyone can come.”

The plan for B-Smart TV, while not unique, differs from other business/finance news outlets. Indeed, the common criticism of business journalism broadly is a bias toward broad economic statistics, from GDP to stock market averages, and the victories and defeats of well-known chief executives, often through soft-ball profiles. In theory, an emphasis on small and medium enterprises, particularly in recessionary times, could be a welcome relief and, maybe, even helpful.

BFM Business began as a radio channel and migrated to cable television in 2010. It is owned by NextRadioTV, a subsidiary of Altice France, which indirectly employs the aforementioned M. Olivennes. BFM TV is a sister channel, mostly news and talk, that came about in 2005. BFM Business Radio focuses on business and financial news, distributed via several FM frequencies. BFM Radio is an online and digital service rebroadcasting BFM TV. Cable networks in France often carry business and financial TV channels originating elsewhere, notably CNBC Europe.

Of course, business and financial publications have adorned the French media landscape for decades. Many have migrated to online and mobile platforms. Les Echos is the best known daily business publication, Challenges the best known monthly. Both use well-developed digital platforms. Les Echos dates from 1908 and has been owned by luxury good retailer LVMH since 2015. Challenges launched in 1982 and is published by Le Nouvel Observateur Group.

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