PARIS/MILAN: As Europe's media sector consolidates to counter the growing dominance of U.S. streaming platforms, French broadcaster M6 and one of its key shareholders are seeking changes to national media laws they say are holding the country back, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

M6 and shareholder CMA CGM are lobbying for reform of France's decades-old media regulations, a move that could unlock mergers and acquisitions and allow French broadcasters to compete more effectively with global rivals, the sources said.

Across Europe, broadcasters are pursuing consolidation to gain scale against U.S. streaming giants such as Netflix, as well as amid renewed deal speculation around Warner Bros Discovery.

In Britain, ITV has been exploring a £1.6 billion (US$2.16 billion) sale of its TV business to Sky, owned by Comcast. Italy's MediaForEurope last year took control of Germany's ProSiebenSat.1, while RTL acquired Sky Deutschland.

French media groups, however, face stricter domestic ownership rules that analysts and industry sources say make it difficult to compete with newer streaming services.

"For 20 years, there's been consolidation in the United States," Francois Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis, said. "But France remains completely blocked while opening the doors wide to Netflix."

According to a Boston Consulting Group study published last September, global streaming and social video platforms accounted for 64 percent of weekly viewing time across France, Britain, Germany, and Switzerland. In France, on-demand viewing via streaming platforms and broadcasters' catch-up services accounted for 39 percent of daily video consumption in 2025, up from 36 percent a year earlier, according to data from audience tracker Mediametrie.

French lawmakers have long resisted regulatory change, citing concerns about excessive market concentration and a weakening of protections for French-language programming.

M6 is leading the push for reform, backed by its second-largest shareholder, CMA CGM Group, led by shipping magnate Rodolphe Saade, which owns more than 10 percent of the broadcaster, the sources said.

M6 said it continues to invest heavily in content, distribution partnerships, data, advertising, and its M6+ platform, regardless of market developments, and declined further comment.

"Our industry faces a transformation of viewing habits and direct competition from American platforms," M6 Group CEO David Larramendy told Le Monde last month. "Under these conditions, maintaining the status quo with regulations designed 40 years ago is untenable."

M6, whose largest shareholder is Germany's RTL, wants lawmakers to amend a rule that effectively locks in its ownership structure because of staggered expiry dates for its digital terrestrial television licences.

"RTL Group remains convinced that market consolidation is necessary to compete with the global tech platforms – and that market consolidation will also happen in France sooner or later," an RTL spokesperson said. "Groupe M6 will play a key role in any further consolidation in the French TV industry. However, any significant consolidation move requires a change of the current French media law."

French broadcaster TF1 is not seeking to scrap the five-year licence rule but wants a broader overhaul of regulations limiting consolidation, a company spokesperson told Reuters.

An amendment approved by the French Senate would reduce the licence lock-up period from five years to two, potentially allowing M6 to pursue M&A by 2028 rather than 2032.

French Culture Minister Rachida Dati supports the change, but the window for reform is narrowing amid political turbulence. Any legislative overhaul would need to be completed before France's municipal elections in March, the sources said. A spokesperson for Dati did not respond to a request for comment.

Thomas Rabe, CEO of Bertelsmann, which owns RTL, said last year he hoped to revive a previously abandoned merger between M6 and TF1 within the next two to three years.

In 2022, M6 and TF1 dropped their merger plans after concluding that remedies required to clear antitrust hurdles would render the deal meaningless.

Italy's MediaForEurope remains interested. MFE CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi said last month he still wanted to enter the French market after an unsuccessful attempt to buy M6 in 2022.

That MFE-backed offer valued RTL's stake in M6 at about 1.4 billion euros ($1.64 billion), or 22 euros per share, two sources said. MFE declined to comment.

Berlusconi also said MFE had previously held unsuccessful talks with TF1. "As they are, I don't know how far M6 and TF1 can go," he told Reuters, warning that France risks isolation as consolidation accelerates elsewhere.

TF1 CEO Rodolphe Belmer told Ouest France the network would be interested in revisiting a takeover of M6 if it were put up for sale.

Saade, who has been expanding his media interests, could also emerge as an acquirer should regulatory reform allow deals to proceed, two of the sources said. Buying M6 outright would create a second major French media group, rivaling TF1.

A CMA CGM spokesperson said: "We do not comment on market rumors."