The business begins at the end of August on the financial ground. In return for broadcasting the TF1 channels, Canal+ must remunerate the Bouygues group, since this content…
The business begins at the end of August on the financial ground. In return for broadcasting TF1 channels, Canal+ must remunerate the Bouygues group, since this content is part of its offer to subscribers. The contract that binds Canal+ to TF1 for this distribution, signed in 2018, comes to an end on August 31, 2022. However, Canal+ criticizes TF1 for being too greedy in the amount claimed for the new contract. “TF1 asks us for a 50% increase” deplores September 3, dyears an interview with the “Sunday Journal”, Maxime Saada, boss of the Canal+ group.
“Prisoned subscribers”
The leaders of TF1 immediately respond to him: this figure is judged by them to be “fanciful”. Gilles Pélisson, CEO of TF1, regrets that this black screen strategy makes Canal+ subscribers “prisoners”.
The confrontation between the two groups, since then, continues on the legal ground. TF1 is summoning Canal+ for interim measures before the commercial court on one aspect of this dispute: le service TNT Sat, which provides satellite access to free DTT channels to two million customers in white areas (rural, mountain, etc.). Canal+ is the operator: the TF1 channels have not been available there since September 2. “TF1 does not ask to be paid for this service. It seems serious to us that the equality in the access of the population to the free channels of the TNT is not respected ”, deplores one in the entourage of Gilles Pélisson.
“It seems serious to us that equal access for the population to free DTT channels is not respected”
Justice, however, estimated Thursday that Canal + had no legal obligation to broadcast them. TF1 appealed, while Canal+ in turn sued TF1 for “abuse of a dominant position”.
Helpline
In short, blow for blow. The conflict might settle in the long term. Also, TF1 multiplies the campaigns to explain to the subscribers of Canal+ the manners of continuing to reach its programs in spite of the cut of the signal, like for example, in the white zones, the recourse to Fransat, another operator. The Bouygues group has even set up a dedicated hotline. It must be said that the hearings are beginning to feel this: TF1 is deprived of nearly 10% of its audience.
At the very start of the crisis, Minister Rima Abdul-Malak wrote to the boss of Canal+ to worry regarding “blockages likely to compromise access for all audiences to the free DTT offer”. The minister’s letter had no effect on Vincent Bolloré’s group.
New CEO
Rodolphe Belmer, ex-director of Canal+ and Eutelsat, was chosen by the Bouygues group to take the helm of TF1. He will be proposed to a board of directors on October 27 as managing director, then as CEO from February 13, 2023. The group’s CEO for seven years, Gilles Pélisson, will retain a non-executive chairmanship in the meantime.