Cyril Hanouna is currently without a television channel. Arcom has decided to withdraw its frequency from the C8 channel, which has already been in the hot seat for several weeks. What future for TPMP, which no longer has any support today?
They dared to “touch his post”. Arcom (Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority) has decided to deprive the C8 channel of its TNT frequency, according to information revealed by AFP on Wednesday, July 24. The channel, mainly supported by Cyril Hanouna and his shows, should therefore theoretically disappear in the coming weeks. Will the star presenter find a new home on the channels of the group headed by Vincent Bolloré? Canal+, but also the CNews or CStar channels have a TNT frequency and could welcome the former France 4 presenter and perhaps even his flagship show, “Touche pas à mon Poste”.
C8 had been criticized several times in recent months by the audiovisual police, after numerous excesses by Cyril Hanouna on air. In July, the Council of State confirmed the record fine of 3.5 million euros imposed on the channel after the host himself insulted LFI MP Louis Boyard last November. Another fine of 500,000 euros was also validated following comments made by a TPMP guest about an alleged drug made from children’s blood consumed by celebrities. In total, Cyril Hanouna’s excesses have already cost C8 more than 7.5 million euros.
Faced with TPMP’s multiple slip-ups, C8 had decided to deprive the show of live broadcasts at the start of the school year and to broadcast it with a slight delay. A precaution that was clearly not enough for Arcom.
The press release from Arcom, responsible for the allocation and control of frequencies in France, confirms that “25 applications were declared admissible, one of which withdrew “in view of the expiry, in 2025, of the authorizations of fifteen services”. If C8 disappears, like the NRJ12 channel, a Ouest-France channel and RéelsTV, a project led by businessman Daniel Kretinsky, have obtained a broadcasting right. Vhere it isThe following projects have been 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 requirement of pluralism of socio-cultural currents of expression. 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”, the body indicates.
12:45 – The left rejoices, the right fumes
Beyond LFI and the RN, opposed on the case of C8, it is the whole of the left and the right who adopt opposing positions on Cyril Hanouna’s channel. The environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau believes for example on X that “Not everything is allowed in France. And particularly to ignore all the rules of pluralism. It’s reassuring”, while David Lisnard points out a double standard: “Rather than looking into the lack of pluralism within the public service, paid for with the taxes of the French, we prefer in France to muzzle private channels. Freedom of expression and jobs in danger”, he writes.
12:39 – The Council of State can still annul the decision of Arcom
According to BFM journalist Raphaël Grably, the Council of State can still cancel the decision of Arcom and allow C8 to regain a frequency on DTT. It “has already canceled a decision by Arcom to remove a frequency from DTT”, indicates, on his X account, the media and tech specialist who points out that the Canal+ group has still not reacted to the sanction.
12:34 – The RN also defends Hanouna and C8
On X, the National Rally is also outraged by the end of C8. “The relentlessness against Cyril Hanouna and Vincent Bolloré. The hatred of the LFI during this Moscow trial at the National Assembly. C8 and NRJ12 are deprived of frequency. Next step: the disappearance of CNews… We will fight for freedom of expression!, according to Caroline Parmentier, MP for Pas-de-Calais. “Arcom, the armed wing of the government whose members are appointed by it and for it, is sabotaging independent channels that it does not like. France, this country of freedom of expression that is sinking, sinking…”, added Sébastien Chenu.
12:34 – “Fatal drift for our democracy”, Eric Ciotti also reacts
Eric Ciotti, former president of LR who formed an alliance with the National Rally, denounced on X a “resounding democratic scandal with the censorship of C8 by the State! Are we still a country of freedom? Friends of power rewarded, others sanctioned. The free channel with the greatest popular success is gagged. A deadly drift for our democracy”, he wrote.
12:30 – “Arcom unplugged them”, François Ruffin’s reaction
Members of La France Insoumise and related groups are jubilant at Arcom’s announcement to deprive C8 and Hanouna of the airwaves, like François Ruffin. Now at odds with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Somme MP posted a scathing message on X this Wednesday: “Presentation of disabled people as drug addicts”, “forced kisses and touching”, “insults”, “insistent interview against a person in distress”, “spreading a conspiracy theory”, “inviting fake police officers”… 16 warnings. 7 formal notices. 9 financial penalties. The majority of which were in the last two years. Despite all that, Vincent Bolloré and Cyril Hanouna continued, believing they could do anything, all-powerful. Arcom pulled the plug on them. Enough to reduce, a little, the hatred on our channels. And, by the way, remind billionaires: you are not above the law.”
12:25 – CNews, Cyril Hanouna’s new channel?
Also under threat, the CNews channel, cousin of C8, has managed to keep its frequency and could be a landing point for Cyril Hanouna, with or perhaps without TPMP. The news channel, also owned by Vincent Bolloré, was also called to order by Arcom for favoring the extreme right and undermining pluralism. But having managed to rise to the top of the news channels in audience share over the last two months, ahead of BFM-TV, and in better financial health than C8, it has not been sanctioned by Arcom. If Cyril Hanouna were to arrive on CNews, he would become a rival to Pascal Praud, another figure in the Bolloré ecosystem and a pillar of the channel.
12:17 – Louis Boyard reacts to the end of C8
While Cyril Hanouna has not yet made a public statement, LFI MP Louis Boyard, involved in a violent clash on TPMP at the end of last year, reacted to the end of C8 on the social network X. “So… sweetheart on the beach then?”, he falsely asked, in reference to a previous message from the host among those exchanged by the two men after their altercation.
12:08 – Slippages on 0.1% of the antenna according to Hanouna
During his hearing last March, Cyril Hanouna had stated that he was “not afraid to say” that TPMP was “the show that had the biggest impact on the 2010s”. “We did more than 5,000 hours of live broadcasts and the events for which we are here today represent 0.1% of the broadcast”. “Some should not have happened, we will come back to that, but for a show that has 5,000 hours of live broadcasts, we are doing pretty well”, added the host. The C8 star had assured that he did not consider this hearing as “a trial”: “I am here to explain to you how we see things, how we have made the show evolve”.
12:07 – Nothing prevents Canal + from broadcasting TPMP
Arcom’s decision contains a limit or contradiction in itself: Vincent Bolloré’s group has other channels on DTT and nothing prevents it from programming Cyril Hanouna’s flagship show, Touche pas à mon poste, on one of them. However, it is this program that was singled out by Arcom for non-compliance with the commitments made to the audiovisual regulator. An important point, however: Arcom has set its limits and if Canal+ or CNews broadcasts a program that does not respect Arcom’s rules, these two channels also expose themselves to disappointments.
11:41 – Cyril Hanouna auditioned in March 2024
Cyril Hanouna was interviewed by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the allocation, content and control of television channels on DTT in March 2024. And he assured: “C8 is the leading DTT channel today”. The host explained that “not much works on television anymore” without regard for the programs of the main channels. And for him, if C8 worked, it was thanks to a simple recipe: “What works is talent. We are only the channel of talent, but also of fiction”.
11:40 – C8 in the crosshairs of France Insoumise
Many political voices, including that of LFI MP Aurélien Saintoul, rapporteur of a parliamentary commission of inquiry on DTT frequencies, had called for the withdrawal of the DTT frequency from the C8 channel, given the excesses already sanctioned and the political shift taken by the channel. The leaders of the Canal+ group had for their part defended the current balance of the DTT ecosystem. Maxime Saada, chairman of the board of directors of the Canal+ group, had notably called on Arcom to renew all the frequencies. He was not heard either.
11:36 – During its auditions, C8 had minimized the excesses
Arcom, which conducted auditions of the 24 candidates for the TNT frequencies until mid-July, had notably interviewed the directors of C8 and Cyril Hanouna himself. The channel’s bosses had acknowledged “some slip-ups” in TPMP, but had promised to “remedy them”. Accused of promoting the extreme right and depriving other political groups of a voice, the channel had also tried to correct the situation. The general director of Canal + France, Gérald-Brice Viret, promised in particular to “set up a pluralism department”.