Paris (AFP)

After giving up paying Orange and Free for the live broadcast of BFMTV, Altice will have to negotiate fiercely to sell to the telecom operators the "associated services" of its channels, which is a new line of battle to try to monetize its contents .

Tuesday evening, Free and Altice reached an agreement to end their fight, on the same bases as the one found last week between Orange and the parent company of BFMTV: it allows to restore the broadcast in real time ( or linear) of the news channel, as well as RMC Découverte and RMC Story, on the Freebox, without their owner Altice being paid.

On the other hand, value-added services related to the three channels, such as providing additional content and catch-up (or replay), are not included in this agreement, even though Altice hopes to successfully sign contracts with them.

This is the consequence of the strategic withdrawal made last week by the group of Patrick Drahi. Alain Weill, the CEO of Altice France, announced that he had renounced the payment of live broadcasts to operators, and now only requires remuneration in the case of the provision of "associated services".

These services have become a weapon of television groups to monetize their content.

TF1 was a pioneer in this field, developing the richest offer, dubbed "TF1 Premium", which gives access to programs in ultra-high definition (4K), episodes previewed, extended replay up to 'to 30 days, and other features convenient for the viewer, such as the "return to the beginning" (or start-over).

- "indispensable" services? -

The TF1 group, after a standoff, has managed to conclude distribution agreements based on the sale of such "innovative services" with the four major telecom operators as well as Canal +.

Without being yet an Eldorado (TF1 hoped to reap 100 million euros per year in 2017), this strategy begins to pay: the CEO of Orange Stéphane Richard had evoked last year a bill to more than 10 million euros. M6 has also developed a similar strategy.

In the case of Altice, the situation is more complicated. Free and Orange argued that the proposed content would be insufficient for the moment, and in particular that a news channel like BFMTV would have a much lower interest in replay than TF1 or M6, with the very popular programs and fictions.

"TF1 and M6 got to be paid for the resumption of their associated services because their value for our subscribers is established", while those of Altice "have not (yet?) Knew how to find their audience", and had pleaded Xavier Niel, end of August in Les Echos.

A criticism to which the boss of Altice France had responded last week. "Today, we are convinced that these associated services are essential [for viewers], if some have doubts, I think that in a few weeks they will have more, because on our channels we will promote without stopping these associated services, "he said.

Altice has launched this summer a revamp of its replay services, which now include a new interface "immersive" more attractive, and will soon include features such as extended catch-up, resume playback, automatic playback of episodes of a series, and more exclusive content.

As for BFMTV, it develops the reports in long format, surveys, and other documentaries, which lend themselves well to a consumption in replay.

For example, after "Elizabeth II, the secrets of an empire" this summer, the channel will broadcast Monday another long-term investigation, "Brigitte Macron, the influential".

"There is a real change of economic model, it is never easy to change the model but it is essential for the television channels that are jostled in their traditional model of advertising, destabilized more and more by the GAFA and new "video" platforms, argues Mr. Weill.

© 2019 AFP