Merger talks between two of France's biggest media groups have collapsed amid concerns over excessive concentration in the sector.

Bouygues, the construction and communications conglomerate, and TF1, France's biggest private sector television group, said they had stopped negotiations to acquire 5% each of Socpresse, publisher of 70 newspapers and magazines, including the leading rightwing broadsheet Le Figaro, for a total €100m ($124m). They then planned to merge the advertising operations of TF1 and Socpresse, to create one of the largest players in the market.