"Faced with these unfounded and unreasonable demands for channels which are accessible free of charge for all and which must remain so, the Canal+ group, a long-standing partner of the TF1 Group, is forced to give up broadcasting these channels in metropolitan France", indicated Canal+ in a press release.
"Aware of the importance of the Football World Cup (November 20 - December 18, editor's note) for its subscribers, and on the strength of its partnership with beIN Sports, which holds all the rights to the competition, the Canal+ group will be in able to offer the entire event to its subscribers", further assured the subsidiary of the Vivendi group.
This is not the first time that the two French audiovisual giants have fought over the subject of the distribution of the free channels of the TF1 group (TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Séries Films and LCI).
Before the forceps signing of their previous contract at the end of 2018, the discussions between the two groups had turned into a commercial conflict: refusing to pay to be able to broadcast channels otherwise accessible free of charge via DTT, Canal + had decided to cut the broadcasting of TF1 to its subscribers, causing an outcry among some viewers.
This unprecedented showdown within the French audiovisual landscape had dramatically illustrated the rise of operators and other intermediaries in the reception modes of TV channels, to the detriment of DTT (which can be received without any subscription ).
This had in particular pushed the public authorities to bang their fists on the table, the Superior Council of Audiovisual (CSA, now Arcom) and the government had thus stepped up to the plate by calling on the two groups to agree.
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For TF1, charging the operators who until now distributed its programs to their subscribers without compensation is a key element of its strategy and should help it diversify its income.
This additional resource is all the more important at a time when the group has to face growing competition from Netflix and others.
© 2022 AFP