Arcom has made its decision on the renewal of TNT frequencies. Result: C8 and NRJ12 lose their channels on free television. Two new channel projects have been chosen to replace them.
Digital terrestrial television – better known by its acronym TNT – will undergo some changes! In 2025, some broadcasting licenses will expire. Also, the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority – the famous Arcom – launched a call for applications last February to reallocate no less than fifteen frequencies, and therefore as many channels (see our article).
The channels occupied on the various multiplexes by C8, W9, TMC, TFX, NRJ 12, LCI, Paris Première, Canal+, BFMTV, CNews, CStar, Gulli, Canal+ Sport, Canal+ Cinéma and Planète+ were thus put back into play. Twenty-five applications had been declared admissible.
The allocation of DTT channels is a considerable issue given the weight and immense power that television media have in shaping public opinion. As Arcom points out, this is the exclusive mode of reception for nearly 20% of households in France. These channels alone also represent more than 90% of the total television audience. The question of the fate reserved for the Bolloré group channels, and more particularly C8 and Cnews, was the focus of all attention due to the number of times they have been called to order in recent years. Arcom has just handed down its judgment. Finally, C8 and NRJ12 are losing their channel, in favor of a Ouest-France channel and RéelsTV, a project led by businessman Daniel Kretinsky.
TNT 2025: Arcom touches Cyril Hanouna’s position
This is the first time that frequencies have been withdrawn from channels since the launch of DTT in 2005. A sentence that falls like a guillotine while the authority of Arcom is greatly questioned. Thus, the channel C8, mainly carried by Cyril Hanouna and his shows, is removed following the numerous controversies and lawsuits that it has generated because of its treatment of information deemed biased.
Bolloré’s favorite host, who is used to all kinds of excesses and provocations, has in fact been criticized several times by Arcom in recent months. In November 2023, for example, C8 had to pay a fine of 500,000 euros following comments made by a guest on TPMP about an alleged drug made from children’s blood consumed by celebrities. But the high point was reached at the same time, when Cyril Hanouna had strongly insulted LFI MP Louis Boyard on his set, leading the digital policeman to impose a record fine of 3.5 million euros on him last July. In total, the host’s blunders have cost the channel more than 7.5 million euros. This is all the more problematic since C8 has been in deficit since its creation, with a net loss of 48.5 million euros in 2023.
The case of NRJ12, also rejected, is different. Indeed, the channel has been experiencing economic difficulties for a while, although it claimed to have reached equilibrium in recent months. It reached a meager audience point in 2023 and mainly offered reruns. This poor editorial offer, coupled with deficitary economic results, convinced Arcom not to reassign its frequency.
TNT 2025: Réels TV and OF TV are arriving
The digital policeman has chosen two general channels to replace C8 and NRJ12. The first, Réels TV, is offered by the CMI France group, which belongs to the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. It plans to offer documentaries, debates and entertainment, including a daily talk show between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The channel could rely on the press group attached to it and which owns the titles Elle, Franc-Tireur and Télé 7 Jours, the publishing group Editis as well as the video media Loopsider.
For its part, the Ouest-France channel can rely on the solid results of the press group, which is the most widely distributed daily with 628,393 daily copies, according to the Alliance for Press and Media Figures (ACPM)Viewers will be able to enjoy a daily talk show, entertainment, news, fiction and possible debate evenings.
Here are the projects selected by Arcom for the next ten years:
- BFM TV (BFM TV company)
- CANAL+ (CANAL PLUS publishing company)
- CANAL+ CINEMA(S) (CANAL PLUS publishing company)
- CANAL+ SPORT (CANAL PLUS publishing company)
- CNEWS (News Service Operating Company)
- CSTAR (CSTAR company)
- GULLI (JEUNESSE TV company)
- LCI (THE INFO CHANNEL company)
- OF TV (OUEST-FRANCE TV company)
- PARIS PREMIERE (PARIS PREMIERE company)
- PLANETE+ (Canal+ Thématiques company)
- RÉELSTV (CMI France company)
- TFX (TFX company)
- TMC (TELE MONTE CARLO company)
- W9 (EDI-TV company)
“Arcom based its decision on the criteria mentioned in Articles 29, 30 and 30-1 of the law of 30 September 1986, in particular assessing the interest of each project for the public in light of the priority imperative of pluralism of socio-cultural currents of expression”indicates the instance. “The Authority will now establish agreements with each of the successful candidates, an essential condition for the issue of an authorisation to use the radioelectric resource on DTT, for a maximum duration of ten years”.
End of C8 and NRJ12: what future for the channels?
Political figures from the left and right have had diametrically opposed reactions to this announcement. The decision of the Arcom particularly makes the right and the extreme right grind their teeth. The group À Droite! chaired by Éric Ciotti even announced on X that it “will propose an amendment to the law on freedom of communication to guarantee freedom of expression and the sustainability of popular channels”.
Be careful, C8 and NRJ12 are not disappearing! The two channels are simply losing their DTT frequency allocations. However, they can continue to be broadcast in France. Like hundreds of other channels available in the country, they will have to find agreements with operators for broadcasting on Internet boxes or by cable or satellite. But this may still impact their audiences…
But if the non-renewal by Arcom of the TNT channel dedicated to C8 may appear as a change, a “clap of thunder” to use the words of France Infothis is not the case. French television remains in the hands of a handful of billionaires. In addition, Vincent Bolloré is still preserving six of the fifteen TNT channels, notably with Canal+, CNews and CStar. And these latter could very well welcome Cyril Hanouna and perhaps even his flagship show, Do not touch My TV.
Because the decision of the digital policeman contains a limit in itself: nothing prevents Vincent Bolloré’s group from programming TPMP on one of its channels. However, it is this program that was singled out by Arcom for non-compliance with the commitments made to the audiovisual regulator.
Note that Le Média TV, which was a candidate, filed an appeal. In his press releasethe independent media, strong in its success on YouTube and already broadcast on Free boxes, believes that“no solution has been provided to the problems of concentration, lack of pluralism and diversity of TV media present on these frequencies which belong to all of us”. However, it has little chance of success given its left-wing orientation…
However, the Council of State can still annul the decision of Arcom. For example, in 2016, the court annulled a decision by the CSA, the regulator at the time, which had withdrawn its broadcasting authorization from the Numéro 23 channel, the company operating the channel being accused of having been guilty of fraud against the law.. We can therefore expect a bloody legal battle in the months, if not weeks, to come…