John de Mol fervently hopes that he can sell his Talpa tent to RTL, but more and more parties are critical of this. This time the media billionaire gets De Telegraaf on his roof.
Many experts agree that John de Mol has negotiated a very good deal with RTL. Talpa’s TV channels are under pressure, hardly any steps are being taken on demandarea and the radio stations are in danger of losing their FM frequencies in the foreseeable future. And for that, RTL wants to give up thirty percent of the shares.
‘Affairs and flops’
Talpa is no longer an attractive bride for RTL, critics said last week. And De Telegraaf is now also making that sound heard. Dream TV merger struggles with affairs and flopping formats, headlines the newspaper. ‘RTL much more stable than Talpa.’
Kirsten Jan van Nieuwenhuijzen, who started his career as one of the first four creatives by John de Mol, points in the Telegraph article on the many scandals surrounding Talpa. For example, he points to The Voice and Linda de Mol. “And then his own son Johnny. (…) And now hassle with Peter Gillis. That is not good for Talpa’s image.”
Ordinary image
Anthropologist Danielle Braun is cited in the article as advising companies that are merging. She gives John a big kick in the crotch by stating that Talpa has actually just become an ordinary club.
All those Talpa scandals can bite during a merger process, she says. “It seems to be about money and status, but mergers are also deeply about culture. It is understandable that RTL is afraid of Talpa with a somewhat vulgar image due to the smears. You don’t want to be brought down.”
Still attractive?
RTL and Talpa are now waiting for a judgment from the regulator ACM. There is a good chance that it will impose restrictions. Then, after the acquisition of Talpa, RTL must, for example, divest channels such as Sky Radio or Net5. “The question is whether the merger is still attractive,” says an expert in the article.
Before the merger of Talpa came into the picture, Qmusic mother DPG Media was in the race to take over RTL Nederland. The boss of that company, Christian Van Thillo, is critical. “The deal with Talpa is nothing more than asking the competition authority to approve a monopoly,” he recently said in the statement. FD.
SBS 6 as a Q sister?
If the ACM decides that RTL may take over Talpa, but then has to sell a number of channels, is Christian interested in that? “Only if such a split is viable. Then several TV channels must become available, including a main channel such as SBS 6, including the foreign rights.”
The latter is a problem, says Christian. “These rights are often bought for the entire group.”
Telegraph
The article from De Telegraaf: