France's M6 plans legal action against head of rival-paper

PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - French TV channel M6 is preparing to take legal action against Axel Duroux, the former head of RTL radio station in France who took up the number-two spot this week at rival broadcaster TF1, a paper said on Wednesday.

M6 plans to take action against Duroux for unfair competition as he has sat on M6's supervisory board, Les Echos reported on the front page of its early Thursday edition, citing unnamed sources.

M6 is also mulling taking legal action against TF1 (TFFP.PA), the paper added.

According to M6's website, Duroux represented RTL -- M6's majority shareholder -- on its supervisory board and his mandate should end in 2012.

A spokesperson for M6 declined to comment on Wednesday.

Duroux, whose nomination as TF1's chief operating officer came as a surprise and sent TF1 shares up strongly on Tuesday, will assist the broadcaster's current CEO, Nonce Paolini.

The management change at TF1 comes as the unit of Bouygues (BOUY.PA), faced with a drop in advertising sales and smaller audiences, prepares to buy TV channels TMC and NT1.

TF1, which until recently had a nearly 50 percent share of the French television advertising market, saw a drop of 27 percent in ad sales in the first quarter, compared to a drop of 11 percent for M6.

(Reporting by Sophie Taylor; Editing Bernard Orr)