Keystone-SDA
Three years after its launch, the Média M Le Média, based in Crissier (VD), will end its activities on July 31. This HD format pioneer in Switzerland combines radio and television in a hybrid format. Four workstations are affected.
(Keystone-ATS) “This difficult choice is explained by an increasingly unfavorable context in the independent development of a media in French-speaking Switzerland,” said Keystone-Ats Philippe Morax, producer and director of Millennium Média Groupe SA on Thursday, confirming information published on the Blick Romand website. The media was launched in October 2022.
“The promise of a fair transition to the DAB+, voted and confirmed in Bern, was not held. The DAB+, which was to replace the FM, struggles to convince the public and causes a fall in audience, including within the SSR antennas, “said the director.
“Paradoxically, we observe today a possible return, with signals suggesting that the FM issuers of public radio could be reactivated to try to regain their former audience,” he explains.
Mission impossible
“Under these conditions, it becomes extremely complex not to say impossible to bring an independent media to life, without subsidies, in an already fragile advertising market,” he said. “The political promises not held compromised the development hopes of M Le Média in a balanced competitive environment, as had been defended at the federal level.”
“This constrained withdrawal comes in a total inconsistency of the audiovisual landscape, where once again a quality French media disappears, for lack of structural and fair support,” regrets Philippe Morax. This closure results in four directly affected positions and a retirement, he specifies.
Funded by advertising, the media employed at the start to a dozen people, journalists, animators and even technicians. The chain-shared program, the “7/10 of Morax”, was also broadcast on Canal+ Switzerland. The media also offers an evening format as well as music. As a target audience, he particularly targeted 25-49 year olds.
After having held the antenna for several years on LFM, but also in RTN, Rouge FM or NRJ, Philippe Morax took over in 2021 the management of Millennium Média Group. He had bet a lot on the development of the DAB+, the digital successor to the FM diffusion, to advance his media. He also underlined at its launch that M The media was the first to issue in DAB+ HD in Switzerland, with a flow of 128 kilobits per second.
Focus on other activities
The Millennium Média Groupe SA, editor of M Le Média, will continue its activity, by refocusing its efforts on the production of television content, announces in stride Mr. Morax. She continues in particular to collaborate with her partners like Canal+, through projects under development.
“The premises of M Le Média, thought from their design as a high quality technical pole, will remain active. They will accommodate the productions of One Group media and its radios, in modern and efficient studios, designed to meet the requirements of audiovisual creation of the moment, ”he underlines.
“Within the framework of this restructuring, I deplore with great sadness to have to separate from certain precious collaborators, who have largely contributed, by their commitment and their talent, to bring the M media to life during these three years,” writes the director and producer.
“This adventure, as intense as it is exciting, will remain a significant human and professional experience, which will have been able, on its scale, to shake up certain well -established habits in the Roman media landscape”, concludes Philippe Morax.
