Former Canal+ CEO Vincent Bolloré charges for his intervention in the channel’s content and editorial line.

On Thursday, the CEO of TF1, Rodolphe Bellmer, told the deputies about the intervention of Vincent Bollor in the “content”, while he himself was at the helm of the Canal+ group. The behavior led to the channel’s exit in 2015.

Like other audiovisual managers in recent weeks, Rodolphe Bellmer was interviewed under oath as part of a commission of inquiry into the allocation of TNT frequencies, expiring for Canal+, C8 and CNews, all three in the hands of Vincent Bolloré, far right.

The commission’s reporter, LFI deputy Aurelian Saintoul, immediately questioned TF1’s boss over the terms of his departure from rival Canal+. Rodolphe Bellmer replied, “The main element of disagreement at the time concerned what I considered Vincent Bolloré’s micromanagement.” As General Manager at the time, “If I cannot fulfill my social and economic responsibility towards my employees, I choose to do something else”, he added.

What about the content, the editorial line, in which the commission of inquiry is primarily interested? “According to the law the person responsible for the content in the audiovisual group and who is socially responsible, is the publishing director. So if I do this work, I choose the material myself,” continued Rodolphe Bellmer. And “if I believe that someone wants to do it for me, I am no longer responsible for the publication and I will do something else. »

Our file on Vincent Bollore

However, “As long as I am in charge, I am responsible for all the programs broadcast as a whole,” said the manager when questioned by Aurelian Saintoul during the hearing that lasted more than two hours.