On August 31, the broadcasting agreement for the TFI group’s channels by Canal+, signed in 2018, came to an end, forcing the two parties to renegotiate a contract. After two months of a fierce fight, the approximately ten million subscribers at Canal+deprived of the channels of the Bouygues subsidiary since September 2, will be able to find them from this Monday, November 7.
Facts
It was in a lapidary press release that the TF1 and Canal+ groups announced, on the evening of Friday November 4, that they had “found an agreement which renews the long-term distribution of all the channels of the TF1 group as well as their catch-up services”. From November 7, Canal+ subscribers will once again be able to click on the TFI, TMC TFX, TF1 Series and LCI icons. The details of the agreement have not filtered, and in particular the hot topic of the debate: the amount of the payment from Canal to TF1. In the previous agreement, agreed in 2018, it amounted to 13 million euros. This statement therefore puts an end to two months of clashes, during which three courts were seized.
The context
On September 2, the Canal + group announced that its broadcasting platform would no longer offer its subscribers the channels of the TF1 group. The reason ? The sum requested by TFI for the broadcasting of its channels would be “very substantial”, in the words of the then president of the Canal+ group, Maxime Saada. Already, in 2018, a financial disagreement had led to the suspension of TFI channels by Canal. The latter cannot resolve to pay too large a sum to a competitor whose channels are accessible free of charge.
Faced with TF1’s intransigence, the Vivendi subsidiary therefore made the digital windows dedicated to TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Series and LCI inaccessible, forcing its subscribers to exit the application to watch them. But this not being possible for everyone, TF1 was offended, worried that viewers who do not have DTT will be cut off from all access to the group’s channels. La Première therefore took legal action, demanding the return of its channels to Canal+’s TNT Sat offer for a period of four months. But the Paris Commercial Court, on September 22, then the Paris Court of Appeal, at the end of October, dismissed it, considering that the Canal group had every right not to broadcast the TFI channels.
why it matters
The announcement of an agreement between the two parties is a relief for TFI. Audiences in October had indeed suffered from this situation, down two points compared to those measured in the same period last year (25.6% in October 2022 against 27.7% in October 2021). Not to mention that a major media event begins on November 20: the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. TF1, which broadcasts 28 matches in the competition, could not address this sequence in conflict with Canal, which offers an offer coupled with the beIN Sport channel, holder of all the rights to the competition. Thus, Canal subscribers, like others, will be able to watch part of the World Cup for free.