PARIS (Reuters) – France’s second largest commercial TV group, M6, aims to spend around 100 million euros ($137 million) on a new soccer stadium for Bordeaux, the top club it owns, its chairman and chief executive said.

M6 head Nicolas de Tavernost also told an analysts’ meeting on Friday that programming costs at the core M6 channel would rise slightly this year.

He added that he lacked visibility on the advertising market, which he said was “neither good, nor bad” at the moment.

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PARIS (Reuters) – France’s largest commercial broadcaster, TF1, declined to comment on newspaper reports it had reached a deal to sell some of its soccer World Cup rights to rivals France Televisions and Canal Plus.

TF1 would pay 120 million euros ($172 million) for the rights in 2010 if it retains them all. But according to French sports daily L’Equipe and business paper Les Echos, TF1 has agreed to resell the rights to broadcast some 34 matches for 33 million.

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BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT, France – Renault pledged on Wednesday to stay committed to Formula One even after selling a large stake in its team to Genii Capital, a Luxemburg-based specialist in brand management and motor sports.

The French car maker said the team would remain branded Renault and preserve all the “core ingredients” that took it to the championships in 2005 and 2006.

But the cost for Renault would be cut in half, team managing director Jean-Francois Caubet told a news conference.

“The net cost that Renault had in 2009 and the net cost Renault has in 2010 will be divided in two,” he said.

Renault declined to specify the size of the stake Genii was taking in its team but said it expected the deal to be completed in early 2010.

F1 team president Bernard Rey would only say it was a “significant stake”.

Rey said the team would announce a new manager early next year at the same time as a second driver to partner Poland’s Robert Kubica.

Renault, one of three manufacturers remaining in Formula One after the departure of Honda, Toyota and BMW in the last year, will continue to supply engines to the British-based team as well as this year’s championship runners-up Red Bull.

GREEN CREDENTIALS

“I am delighted to welcome Genii Capital as our new strategic partner as I am sure that their enthusiasm and business expertise will create a new dynamic for the team, the staff, and our partners,” Rey said in a statement.

“Today’s announcement also confirms Renault’s commitment and trust in the sport’s governing bodies to improve the green credentials of Formula One.”

Rey said Renault intended to use the sport to show off the company’s skill in developing high-performance, fuel-efficient cars.

Genii capital’s chairman is Gerard Lopez, whose technology investment company Mangrove Capital was an early investor in Skype.

His main rival to take over the Renault team was the Prodrive company run by Aston Martin chairman and former Benetton and BAR team boss David Richards.

“Together with Renault, we intend to run the team with the same values as any of our other investments, prioritising ambitious performance targets without neglecting cost efficiency,” said Genii CEO Eric Lux in a statement.

“We strongly believe that on-track performance can be compatible with business performance, and we will use all our entrepreneurial spirit and commercial know-how to achieve this goal.”

Genii said they would also “explore opportunities for synergies between companies in its investment portfolio and the Renault F1 Team.”

“Formula One has an extraordinary level of global awareness that can be used to develop new business-to-business opportunities in traditional and developing markets, and there are exciting new revenue streams to be explored,” said Lopez.

LONDON (Reuters) – Renault are considering several rival bids for their Formula One team, according to the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

The Briton told Monday’s Times newspaper that former BAR and Benetton team boss David Richards, whose Prodrive company has been linked to a takeover of the former champions, was one of several interested parties.

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PARIS (Reuters) – Former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore asked a French court to overturn his life ban from Formula One on Tuesday, saying he had been denied his right to a free and fair defence.

The court said it expected to reach a verdict on Jan. 5.

The Italian, who had been a flamboyant figure in the Formula One paddock, also asked for one million euros ($1.50 million) in compensation from the Paris-based International Automobile Federation (FIA) for moral prejudice.

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LONDON (Reuters) – Formula One’s governing body hit back at former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore on Thursday after he accused them of abusing their powers in handing him a life ban from the sport.

Italian Briatore was cast out in September after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) found his Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet had been ordered to crash deliberately at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.

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PARIS (Reuters) – French carmaker Renault will decide by the end of the year whether to stay in Formula One after a race-fixing scandal that has badly damaged the team’s reputation.

“You will have to be patient,” Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told reporters on Thursday.”We will make an announcement on our participation in Formula 1before the end of the year.”

Renault ended the 2009 season racing under a suspended permanent ban for its involvement in a race-fixing controversy which resulted in its former principal Flavio Briatore being barred for life.

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PARIS (Reuters) – The French tennis federation (FFT) is considering to move the French Open out from Roland Garros if its extension project does not get the green light within a year.

The project was agreed on earlier this year and an architect was appointed but the Paris City Council is now getting cold feet, FFT director general Gilbert Ysern said on Tuesday.

“It seems that the mayor’s entourage has become more hostile to our project — which was not the case when we launched it,” Ysern told reporters.

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LONDON (Reuters) – Former champions Renault have secured their first new sponsor since they were handed a suspended permanent ban last month for their involvement in a race-fixing scandal.

Dutch watch brand TW Steel said in a statement they had agreed a three year deal to be Renault’s official timing partner. No financial details were given.

As part of the deal, the Renault cars will also carry the sponsor’s branding at this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

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PARIS (Reuters) – Former Ferrari boss Jean Todt replaced Max Mosley as president of Formula One’s governing body after trouncing Finnish rival Ari Vatanen in a vote on Friday.

“Jean Todt has been elected president of the FIA for a four-year term by the FIA General Assembly at its annual meeting in Paris,” the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement.

The 63-year-old Frenchman won 135 votes to 49 for Vatanen, the former world rally champion who was his sole rival for the most powerful position in world motorsport. There were 12 abstentions.

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