Héloise Goy with Gauthier Delomez 9:18 a.m., March 24, 2022, modified at 9:20 a.m., March 24, 2022

Justice on Wednesday condemned the France Télévisions group of "brutal breach of contract" at the expense of the emblematic host Patrick Sébastien.

The public audiovisual group must therefore pay him the sum of 652,000 euros, while the host claimed 40 times more.

652,000 euros is what France Télévisions must pay Patrick Sébastien after a conviction for "brutal breach of contract", according to information from Capital.

This sum, substantial, is however far from what the host claimed, namely 26 million euros.

Finally this Wednesday, justice therefore granted him 40 times less than what he claimed.

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The reduction of the budget and the dismissal in question

These are facts that date back to 2019 that are at the origin of this conviction.

In a few months, the public audiovisual group reduced the number and the budget of the emissions of Patrick Sébastien before thanking him.

Furious with these budget cuts and this dismissal, Patrick Sébastien had filed several complaints against France Télévisions.

The animator known for

The biggest cabaret in the world

notably accused the group of having asked for undue savings and of having damaged the image of his production company Magic TV.

Patrick Sébastien also accused France Télévisions of threatening to break off commercial relations.

Declining audiences and a high unit price for programs

Before the commercial court, the public audiovisual group had indicated that the audience for Patrick Sébastien's broadcasts was in continuous decline and that it had fallen below the average audience for France 2 from 2017. France Télévisions had also claimed that the unit price of its emissions was very high compared to the average.

If the judges rejected almost all of Patrick Sébastien's arguments, they nevertheless admitted that the notoriety of the host and the good audience scores were maintained over time until the last 2018-2019 season.

Justice therefore simply recognized a "brutal rupture of the commercial relationship" between broadcaster and producer and asked for the reimbursement of legal costs.

For its part, France Télévisions has already expressed its intention to appeal this decision.