"Between Cannes and Canal +, it's a long love affair. We faced an escalation from the public service, which offered more money than us," said the manager, confirming information from the Le Point newspaper.
According to the boss of the Canal + antennas, France Télévisions, associated with the digital media Brut, would broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies of the Cannes festival, which will be held from May 17 to 28, 2022.
Asked by AFP, France Televisions confirmed "having made a proposal with Brut at the Cannes film festival to be their media partner".
But "no decision has yet been taken" and discussions are continuing "serenely" with Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux, respectively president and general delegate of the Cannes festival, specifies the public audiovisual group, which assures to have "learned with surprise by the press the decision of Canal + ".
On the Canal + side, "we did not want to participate in this escalation, so we withdrew from the call for tenders", explained Gérald-Brice Viret, assuring that despite the prestige of the Cannes competition, "the audience n is not always up to the task with around 600,000 viewers per gala evening.
"Cannes is a big machine, we are talking about several million euros. We are not at war, we wish them good luck. We remain on excellent terms with the town hall, in particular through the Canneseries festival", he added. he adds.
The director of programs for Canal +, however, guaranteed that the encrypted channel would continue to cover the festival with "more resources" thanks to the savings thus made.
“In addition to the work of our journalists on site, the Circle and its columnists, we are planning a daily access prime time program,” he explained.
© 2021 AFP