we do have cable and satellite, but they reach smaller audiences, and thus the main TV channels still hold disproportionate influence.

And TF1, the first channel is private and unashamedly on the right. Its owner is Bouygues, the construction group that thrives on public contracts, and its boss, Martin Bouygues, is an old personal friend of Sarkozy.

And its journalists/stars (they spend more time in the "people" section of magazines" than working, it seems sometimes) are more interested in protecting their cozy relationships with those in power and with money.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

It's a bit contradictory, what you say. Alternative media do exist, (as per your list, and I just watched Arrêt sur images..!) But, as you say, it seems they don't have any real influence. So it seems to me there is a gap to be filled. A democracy gap, because at the moment the broader perceptions of the French are being manipulated by the MSM.