INTERVIEW
For sports television channels, the pill has a hard time passing. While the coronavirus epidemic has resulted in the suspension of all European championships, as well as European competitions, and even the final end of the Ligue 1 season, this situation affects both Canal +, Bein Sport and RMC Sport, private live matches to be offered to their subscribers, such as the latter, which for some require compensation.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation on Friday 29 May
At the end of March, Canal + had announced that it refused to pay the Professional Football League the next due date for TV rights for Ligue 1. For its part, RMC Sport, which broadcasts the Champions League and the Europa League, said through the voice of its owner Patrick Drahi, that it intended to recover the money invested this season, twice 175 million euros paid in July and January. "I have not seen anyone play since mid-March. We are not going to pay for something I do not get (...) I intend to recover money very quickly", said the men in particular quoted by L'Équipe .
"The contracts are, in general, drawn up for the benefit of the leagues"
However, Patrick Drahi should have trouble recovering his money so quickly, judge Pierre Maes, expert in TV rights negotiation. "He has a chance of seeing his money again, but getting it back very quickly, I don't believe it," he explains at the microphone of Europe 1. According to this specialist, "everything will depend on the title of what is written in the contract concluded between UEFA and RMC, on the issue of force majeure. In contracts, there may be force majeure clauses, which stipulate that having the right not to deliver the matches, he can all similarly receive payments from the channel. " If he has no information as to the existence of such a clause in the contract concluded between the two parties, Pierre Maes recalls that contracts "are generally drawn up for the benefit of leagues and rights holders, who are in a position of strength. "
For viewers, "no global refund"
And what about viewers? While the channels are unable to broadcast content for which subscribers have chosen to pay, can they be reimbursed for part of their subscription? "There is no global reimbursement planned in the program," says Camille Gruhier, journalist at UFC-Que Choisir, while "they continue to pay for having very few matches."
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Vaccine, immunity, transmission: four questions still topical on the coronavirus
> Why is hydroxychloroquine rejected by health authorities?
> Coronavirus: 5 mistakes not to make with your mask
> How does StopCovid work? We tested the tracing application in preview
> Statistical corrections, rounded averages ... exceptional measures for the bac 2020
> Why are French nurses among the lowest paid in Europe?
People in this situation and having contacted the consumer association "would have liked their channel to contact them, by a commercial gesture which would only have attracted the sympathy of subscribers". All "would have liked to have received compensation," she said again. On the other hand, specifies the journalist, "those who contacted the customer services of their main provider, whether the ISP (Internet service provider) or the chain, obtained discounts, which is rather good news" .
"Channels play on subscriber inertia"
"We would have liked there to be a voluntary process, a commercial gesture on the part of the chains," adds Camille Gruhier, who encourages people who feel aggrieved to contact customer services. On the other hand, a possible group action seems to him "very complicated" and "a little excessive" to obtain compensation.
>> Find all of Philippe Vandel's programs in replay and podcast here
For Pierre Maes, this lack of voluntarism on the issue of compensation chains is obviously explained by financial considerations. "It's a lot of money. If Canal + tells its millions of subscribers that they no longer have to pay, it represents a huge shortfall in its accounts." Thus, the strategy of channels is often to play "on the inertia of subscribers", he concludes, recalling that in Europe, "no one has implemented a global reimbursement solution".