* CFO says priority on investment, downplays more shareholder returns

* M6 channel takes 3rd place in national ratings (Adds details)

By Gwénaëlle Barzic

PARIS, Feb 14 (Reuters) - France's second-largest private broadcaster M6 posted a slightly higher operating profit last year as its growing TV audience helped it attract more advertising dollars, allowing it to pay a stable dividend despite economic uncertainty.

But its business lines outside TV, such as its ownership of the Bordeaux football club and a unit that markets DVDs, continued to drag on revenues and profits.

Chief Financial Officer Jerome Lefebure told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that M6 was counting on the strong performances of new shows to continue to allow it to grow its share of France's TV advertising market.

"We see this year as being a bit difficult," he said, adding that it was hard to predict how consumer spending would hold up with a recession looming in France.

"We'll be helped by the fact that our audience numbers are holding up well ... we had an excellent month of January on our M6 channel," said Lefebure.

M6 posted earnings before interest and tax up 1.2 percent at 245 million euros, while revenue slipped 2.8 percent to 1.42 billion euros. Analysts had been expecting revenue of 1.41 billion euros, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The main point of weakness was the Bordeaux football club, which saw revenues fall 30 percent to 57.9 million euros after it failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Meanwhile its main M6 TV channel performed well with advertising revenue up 0.9 percent to 675.9 million euros.

M6, long the challenger in France's TV market behind larger private rival TF1 and public broadcaster France Televisions, took third place in terms of average viewing audience in 2011. With ratings of 10.8 percent, M6 moved ahead of public channel France 3 for the first time, but still trails behind TF1 with 23.7 percent audience share.

M6 said that it would pay a dividend of 1 euro per share for 2011, unchanged from 2010.

M6 had a net cash position of 330 million euros at the end of 2011.

The cash pile has led some analysts to question whether the group might consider a special dividend or a share buyback given that it had few acquisition plans.

Asked whether such buybacks or a special dividend were planned, Lefebure said the priority would be on growing the business such as by investing in TV channels for which M6 recently applied for national licences.

"We think that with the balance sheet and cash position that we have, we need to invest," he said. (Writing by Leila Abboud, Editing by Caroline Jacobs)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency