Channel cuts: TF1 attacks Canal+, which attacks it in return

A commercial conflict, two legal actions: after the cut of the diffusion of the chains of TF1 by Canal+, the two audiovisual giants attack each other before the commercial court.

Attack from both sides

TF1 is attacking Canal+ in summary proceedings, an emergency procedure, before the Paris Commercial Court. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, September 13 at 3 p.m. according to information from the Correspondence de la presse. For its part, Canal+ is attacking TF1 before the Nanterre commercial court, reveals The Parisian. He accuses it of abuse of a dominant position and discriminatory practices, challenging the terms of the distribution contract under which Canal broadcasts TF1 channels.

The summons to the merits should be effective by the end of the week and benefit from an accelerated examination allowing a decision before the end of the year, declared Laëtitia Ménasé, general secretary of Canal+.

After the expiry of their distribution contract on August 31, the Canal+ group stopped broadcasting the free channels of the TF1 group (TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Séries Films and LCI), having been unable to find a financial agreement for its renewal. A similar conflict had opposed the two audiovisual giants in 2018, without going to court.

TF1 is asking for its channels to be restored to the Canal+ TNT Sat satellite service. This is the only way for some households to receive television in areas not served by terrestrial DTT (essentially in the mountains).

In a letter sent on September 2 to the chairman of the executive board of Canal+ Maxime Saada, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, had asked the group to restore the broadcasting of TF1 channels on its TNT Sat offer. “Cutting the signal of the TF1 group channels on the TNT Sat offer deprives people who can only receive DTT via satellite of any access to the five free channels of the TF1 group,” argued the minister.