French national television network
Television channel
M6's fourth logo from 1999 to 2009
M6 (French: [ɛm sis]), also known as Métropole Television, is the most profitable private national French television channel[1][2] and the third most watched television network in the French-speaking world.[3] M6 is the head channel of the M6 Group media empire[4] that owns several TV channels, magazines, publications, movie production and media-related firms etc. It is owned by RTL Group.
On 20 May 2021 it was announced that M6 Group, owners of the channel, has proposed a merger with TF1 Group, which owns TF1.[5] On 16 September 2022, it was announced that the merger was officially abandoned.[6]
History
M6 launched on 1 March 1987 at 11:15 am CET taking the place of TV6.
M6's current on-air brand image, introduced in May 2020 suggests that it tailors its service to teenagers and young-adult demographics. Its current programs lineup include:
- French TV shows: Les Bleus, Scènes de Ménages, Vous les femmes
- French TV programs : Capital, Zone Interdite, Enquête Exclusive, Top Chef, Un dîner presque parfait, 100% Mag, 66 Minutes, Recherche Appartement ou Maison, L'amour est dans le pré, Maison à vendre, On ne choisit pas ses voisins, Belle toute nue, Nouveau Look pour une nouvelle vie, Hits Machines, M6 Boutique, LE 1945 and LE 1245 (news), Top tendance, Le meilleur patissier de france, Danse avec les stars, Morning Live, ...
- American TV shows: Blue Bloods ; Elementary ; Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (Esprits criminels : Unité sans frontières) ; Hawaii Five-0 (Hawaii 5-0) ; When Calls the Heart (Le cœur a ses raisons) ; Modern Family ; How to Get Away with Murder (Murder) ; NCIS: New Orleans (NCIS: Nouvelle Orléans) ; New Girl ; Quantico ; Reign (Reign : Le Destin d'une reine) ; Rosewood ; Scorpion ; Good Witch (Un soupçon de magie) ; Once Upon A Time ; NCIS (NCIS: enquêtes spéciales) ; NCIS: Los Angeles ; Prison Break ; Bones ; Supernatural and Secrets and Lies (Secrets and Lies : l'affaire Tom Murphy) ; The X-Files (X-Files, aux frontières du réel) ; 24: Legacy ; Bull ; Code Black ; MacGyver
- These American TV Shows were previously shown on M6: Smallville ;Scrubs ; The Unit (The Unit : commando d'élite) ;Stargate Atlantis ; Nip/Tuck ; Californication ; Kyle XY ; Everybody Hates Chris (Tout le monde déteste Chris) ;Terra Nova ; Desperate Housewives ;Lie to Me ;Medium (Médium) ; My Name Is Earl (Earl) ; NUMB3RS ; Charmed ; The 4400 (Les 4 400) ; Jericho ; The Dead Zone (Dead Zone) ; Stargate SG-1 ; Malcolm in the Middle (Malcolm) ; Friends ; Alias ; Sex and the City ; Veronica Mars ; Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy contre les vampires) ; Ally McBeal ; Roswell ; Profiler ; The Pretender (Le Caméléon) ; The Sentinel ; Sliders (Sliders, les mondes parallèles) ; Hope & Faith (La Star de la famille) ; 8 Simple Rules (Touche pas à mes filles) ; My Wife and Kids (Ma famille d'abord) ; Still Standing (Une famille presque parfaite) ; Early Edition (Demain à la Une) ; Wildfire ; Once and Again (Deuxième chance) ; Relic Hunter (Sydney Fox, l'aventurière) ; Medical Investigation (NIH : alertes médicales) ; Tru Calling (Tru Calling : compte à rebours) ; Commander in Chief ; 1-800-Missing (Missing : disparus sans laisser de trace) ; Dark Skies (Dark Skies : l'impossible vérité) ; The Inside (The Inside : dans la tête des tueurs) ; Killer Instinct ; Vanished ; John Doe ; LAX ; Jake 2.0 ; Blind Justice ; Threshold (Threshold : premier contact) ; Summerland ; Beautiful People ; Young Americans ; Special Unit 2 ; The Evidence (The Evidence : les preuves du crime) ; South Beach ; L.A. Heat (Los Angeles Heat) ; Married... with Children (Mariés, deux enfants) ; The Cosby Show (Cosby Show) ; Who's the Boss? (Madame est servie) ; The Nanny (Une nounou d'enfer) ; Little House on the Prairie (La Petite Maison dans la prairie); The Simpsons (Les Simpson) ; Bewitched (Ma sorcière bien-aimée) ; The Wonder Years (Les années coup de cœur) and Family Affair (Cher Oncle Bill).
- American programs: High School Musical ; Camp Rock ; America's Got Talent (with its own version : La France a un incroyable talent), American Idol (La Nouvelle Star), KaBlam! (KarToon (M6 version))
- British TV shows: Primeval ; Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Journal intime d'une call girl).
- British TV programs: Britain's Got Talent (with its own version : La France a un incroyable talent), Pop Idol (with its own version : Nouvelle Star), The X-Factor (with its own version), Wife Swap
- These British TV shows were previously shown on M6: Footballers' Wives (Femme$ de footballeurs) ; Queer as Folk ; Totally Frank ; Bugs ; and Hex (Hex : la malédiction).
- These Canadian TV shows were shown on M6: Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye (Sue Thomas, l'œil du FBI) and Falcon Beach.
- Investigative journalism shows, such as Capital, Zone interdite and Enquête Exclusive.
- Long-lasting short programs, such as Turbo, CinéSix, and E=M6, as well as numerous music videos.
In 2001, M6 became the first national French television network to broadcast reality programming. Its first program of this genre was Loft Story, and was highly watched. The president of TF1 at the time, Étienne Mougeotte, promised that TF1 would never air any reality programming. However, several months later, TF1 signed a contract with Endemol to air such programming. Endemol is the same company that created Loft Story for M6.
M6 is one of the only television services in France to have science-fiction programming as part of its regular schedule. Most supernatural dramas were shown on Saturday nights in what M6 called "la Trilogie du Samedi" (The Saturday Trilogy)
