Lagardère Active reorganizes its TV and Radio operations.

After contributing to the success of Lagardère Active’s music TV and radio in France, creating Musiline and launching Spectacles Vivants (live entertainment) as part of the Music division, Christophe Sabot informed Lagardère Active several weeks ago of his wish to take his career in a new direction, and management has accepted his decision.

The company has made use of this opportunity to reorganize its operations so as to meet the challenges of new (digital) technology and the international market more effectively and to better leverage production and marketing synergies.

The following departments have been created:

• France and International Music Radio, comprising Virgin Radio, RFM and Musiline in France as well as all music radio stations held by the group internationally (in Russia, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and South Africa). This represents a total of 24 music radio stations worldwide and nearly 40 million daily listeners in France and internationally, generating sales of almost €200 million in 2007.

  Grouping these activities together will allow us to better respond to music radio’s key challenges – the delinearization and personalization of consumption, the advent of digital radio and the leveraging of synergies in music-show production and content in France and internationally – in the coming years.

• France and International Television Operations, made up of all television-channel production operations (Gulli, Canal J, TiJi, Filles TV, MCM, Mezzo and Virgin 17). Bringing these entities together will increase marketing and production synergies within the channel portfolio, allow rights purchasing and programme sourcing to be carried out as one entity in response to an increasingly competitive environment, and improve the channels’ communications.

The France and International Music Radio department will be led by Jean-Christophe Lestra, who will continue in his position as Chairman and CEO of LARI (Lagardère Active Radio International).

The France and International Television Operations department will be led by Emmanuelle Guilbart, who will continue in her position as CEO of the Youth division and Chairman and CEO of Gulli, Canal J and Canal J International.