War has been declared between Cyril Hanouna and Arcom. After the suspension of C8’s TNT frequency, the star presenter counterattacks and intends to take the matter to court.
The summer was hot between Cyril Hanouna and the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom). It all started last July, when the audiovisual regulator decided not to renew C8’s TNT frequency beyond February 2025. A real bombshell for the channel of the Canal+ group, owned by Bolloré, which has hosted Cyril Hanouna’s shows since 2012, including the daily “Touche Pas à Mon Poste”.
For several weeks, the star host had remained silent on the subject. But as soon as he returned to the air on Monday, September 2, he spoke at length about this burning issue on TPMP. “I consider myself harassed by the Arcom organization, which, behind the scenes, generates hate messages on social networks,” Cyril Hanouna told his viewers. And he announced in the process his intention to take legal action for “harassment” against the regulatory body.
It must be said that relations between Cyril Hanouna and Arcom have been notoriously tense for several years. The host has indeed been regularly criticized for slip-ups in his shows, earning C8 more than 7 million euros in cumulative fines. Sanctions that “Baba”, as his fans call him, has always vehemently contested.
Channel change for Hanouna and TPMP?
But this time, the case takes a completely different turn with the possible pure and simple disappearance of C8 in less than two years. A catastrophic prospect for the channel, of which TPMP is the locomotive in terms of audiences. The question now arises of the future of the troublemaker of the PAF and its flagship programs.
Cyril Hanouna assures us that he has no intention of giving up and intends to continue offering his programs, whether on C8 until the fateful deadline of February 2025, or on another channel of the Canal+ group. The possibility of a transfer to the encrypted channel is being persistently discussed behind the scenes.
In the meantime, all eyes are now on the courts, which the presenter has promised to take to court to assert his rights against Arcom. A legal counter-offensive whose outcome is still difficult to predict if it is actually launched, but which promises new twists and turns in this unprecedented standoff between a presenter and the audiovisual regulator.
One thing is certain: deprived or not of a channel, Cyril Hanouna has no intention of leaving the media landscape anytime soon. With his community of millions of “fanzouzes” and his supporters at Canal+, starting with that of billionaire Vincent Bolloré, he intends to remain one of the most emblematic faces of the French small screen in the coming years. The battle is probably only just beginning…