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 Bollore owns 15 percent of Vivendi, the parent company of
pay-TV channel Canal Plus, which has broadcast the show "Les
Guignols", featuring puppets of everyone from presidents to
sports stars, since 1988.
The tycoon wants to cancel the show and has met Canal Plus
managers in recent days to discuss its future, according to one
person familiar with the situation, confirming information first
reported by online outlet PureMedias and then by others
including in Le Monde daily.
A second source said talks between Bollore and executives were
about the autumn programing line-up and strategy of Canal Plus
more broadly, and no decision on "Les Guignols" had been made.
Bollore has deep ties to France's political class. His
family-owned conglomerate Bollore Group is active in logistics
and transport, and former president Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated
his election in 2007 on the tycoon's yacht.
Leading French politicians rushed to defend the show despite its
habit of mercilessly mocking those in power.
"I love seeing myself on 'Les Guignols'. We need them," tweeted
Alain Juppe, a center-right presidential candidate and mayor of
Bordeaux, after changing his profile photo to one of his puppet
on the show.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France needed the show in
"difficult times", six months after deadly attacks on satirical
newspaper Charlie Hebdo prompted soul-searching over free speech
and religion. "In our country, caricature and impertinence are
necessary," he told Agence France Presse in Toulouse.
Former Canal Plus boss Pierre Lescure told Les Echos daily he
had resigned from the board of Vivendi-owned advertising and
public relations group Havas in protest. Bollore owns 60 percent
of Havas and his son is CEO.
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"Les Guignols" once wielded considerable influence on the public
image of France's politicians, helping boost Jacques Chirac's
popularity ahead of the 1995 elections by depicting him as a jovial
man in a Hawaiian shirt eating apples.
Its portrayals of President Francois Hollande as a dim bumbler and
former President Nicolas Sarkozy as an over-excitable dwarf were
arguably much harsher.
A Canal Plus spokesperson declined to comment. Vivendi said
programing decisions for Canal Plus would be announced by mid-July
as was customary.
Bollore believes the French pay-TV operator needs renewal given
stiffer competition from free channels as well as online video.
Canal Plus' revenue in France fell by nearly 3 percent last year,
while profit dropped 9 percent.
After selling off four of six business units in the past two years
under Bollore's leadership, Vivendi now consists of Canal Plus,
France's leading pay-TV platform, and the world's biggest music
label Universal Music Group.
Whether "Les Guignols" remains on the air next autumn remains to be
seen and no decision has been made, said the two sources.
But it is clear Bollore, known for his hands-on style, has been
pressuring Canal Plus to up its game, renew its bench of talent, and
revive the fortunes of its prime-time chat and news show "Le Grand
Journal", which has lost audience.
(Editing by Mark John and Mark Potter)
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