BFM Locales, known until 2024 asBFM Régions, is a Frenchnetwork of localnews television channels established in 2019. It is part of the BFM family of news and financial media properties.[3] It was partially modeled after the AmericanNews 12 Networks,[3] and originally belonged to the same conglomerate,Altice.[4] Today, it is a subsidiary ofCMA CGM.[5]
At the inception of Frenchdigital terrestrial television in the second half of the 2000s, BFM's then parent companyNextRadioTV only expressed moderate interest in the local TV market.[6] It did bid for a licence to broadcast inParis,[6] but was not selected.[7] However one of the winning channels,Cap 24, found itself on the market in 2010 after parent companyGroupe Hersant Media decided to wind down its strugglingAntennes Locales network. Cap 24 was first sold to Bernard Krief Consulting, a controversialLBO specialist, then quickly sold again to NextRadioTV.[8]
NextRadioTV did not immediately put a full-fledged local channel in Cap 24's slot. Beginning in November 2010, it broadcast BFM Business Paris,[2] a variant of its non-terrestrial national business news channelBFM Business. It was largely the same as the national version, with three hours of dailylocal programming thrown in to comply with France's local television mandates.[2]
In the summer of 2015, French multinational Altice became a major shareholder in NextRadioTV, with the latter's chairmanAlain Weill touting the expanded strategic opportunities afforded by the alliance.[9] In the fall of 2016, BFM bid for theToulouse local broadcast licence (left vacant by the previous operator's bankruptcy), but withdrew at the last minute and took a minority participation in the competing project, TV Sud Toulouse (laterViàOccitanie Toulouse), following some pushback from independent television trade groups.[10]
2019–24 logo, as BFM Régions
In November 2016, BFM Business Paris was rebranded as BFM Paris, now a true capital region channel built around a majority of local programming.[11] In October 2018, BFM finally added another local station to its portfolio:TLM (Télé Lyon Métropole).[12] Access to the country's second largest media market formally paved the way for a national network.[13] In February 2019, the network officially became known as "BFM Régions".[1] TLM started broadcasting as BFM Lyon Métropole in September 2019 and just BFM Lyon in January 2020.[14]
In November 2019, BFM acquired a significant minority share in two local channels owned byLille area company Groupe SECOM: Grand Lille TV and Grand Littoral TV (the latter serving theCalais-Dunkirk market). In February 2020, both channels officially became BFM Grand Lille and BFM Grand Littoral.[15] In the same transaction, BFM bought a stake in Grand Lille TV's sister radio station Grand Lille Info, which became Radio BFM Grand Lille.[16]
In March 2020, Altice entered an agreement withVià to merge that network'sowned-and-operated stations with BFM Régions.[17] Altice later backed out of the deal, arguing that its prospective partners had purposely underestimated the debt load of Vià's corporate entities.[17] They went into receivership soon after.[18] Altice bid for some of their assets but in April 2021, theNîmesCommercial Court decided in favor of another buyer,La Dépêche du Midi, which was the employees' preferred choice.[19]
In the summer of 2020, BFM acquired DICI (stylized D!CI), a small market but highly rated[20] channel serving the southern part of the French Alps. In March 2021, it was replaced by two sister channels: BFM DICI Alpes-du-Sud (Hautes-Alpes) and BFM DICI Haute-Provence (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).[21] In February 2021, Altice bought Azur TV, a regional network of three southeastern channels: Azur TV (Nice), Provence Azur TV (Marseille-Menton) andToulon Azur TV, fromValeurs Actuelles publisherIskandar Safa. In July 2021, their replacements BFM Nice Côte d'Azur, BFM Marseille Provence and BFM Toulon Var went on air.[22]
In March 2022, BFM Paris was renamed "BFM ParisÎle-de-France" to signify its broader regional reach.[23] A few months after their respective purchases by Altice,Strasbourg-based Alsace 20 joined the network as BFM Alsace in June 2022,[24] while La Chaîne Normande, whose headquarters are located inRouen, became BFM Normandie in September.[25]
Sale, rebrand as BFM Locales and closure of Paris channel
On 2 July 2024, the sale of Altice's media division to freight companyCMA CGM was finalized, which included BFM Régions.[5] That fall, member channels underwent a graphic makeover and the network was renamed "BFM Locales."[26] In December 2024, it was announced that BFM Paris Île-de-France would close in the first half of 2025.[27] The channel's persistent losses were attributed to redundancy with Paris-based national media[28] and insufficient support from local authorities.[28] It was shut down on 14 March 2025.[29] BFM Locales announced that it would migrate its Paris-centric content to its web platforms,[30] and prioritize beefing up the remaining affiliates' schedules in the face of impending competition from a new national channel aimed at provincial audiences,Novo 19.[31]
In addition to general news coverage, BFM Locales has branched out into live sports, which make for an attractive content differentiator.[32][33] Some of this programming is produced by sister premium channelRMC Sport, another CMA CGM property.[34]
^Durand, Didier (15 July 2019)."BFM prépare sa rentrée à Lyon".brefeco.com. IDM Rhône-Alpes.Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved18 September 2021.
^Filhoulaud, Anne-Sophie (16 March 2018). "L'étonnante réussite de la chaîne locale DICI TV".Satellifax Magazine. No. 9. Paris: Fréquences. pp. 5–8.En audience cumulée, la chaîne dépasse, sur sa zone de diffusion hertzienne, bon nombre des chaînes de la TNT. Avec 12,6 %, elle est cinquième, derrière M6 et devant France 5
^Salles, Benoît (6 July 2021)."BFM DICI arrive ajourd'hui".echosdunet.net. Selectra.Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved17 September 2021.
^@BFMGrandLille (March 22, 2025)."Coupe de France de Volley" (Tweet) – viaTwitter.Suivez la finale masculine entre Tourcoing et Montpellier Samedi 29 mars à 20h30, en direct sur BFM Grand Lille et BFM Grand Littoral
