It's a winning round for M6, in the battle against Molotov.
And not the least.
According to our information, the French platform, which offers to watch television channels in streaming, was sentenced for "counterfeiting" and "parasitism" to pay more than 7 million euros to the group led by Nicolas de Tavernost, according to the decision, of which we have taken cognizance, rendered on December 2 by the judicial tribunal of Paris.
An amount which corresponds to heavy damages, while the contract between the two companies had expired on March 31, 2018. After this date, Molotov was no longer supposed to broadcast the channels of the M6 group, especially as the operators telecoms (Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Free) and satellite packages (Canal Plus) pay to offer television channels.
Molotov, who "does not wish to comment", is also forced by the courts to stop the retransmission of M6, W9 and 6ter in the coming days, while the recording of these channels was already no longer possible.
A similar procedure launched by TF1
Another judgment is particularly awaited for the French start-up. For its part, TF1 initiated a procedure identical to that of M 6 two years ago. The decision should be taken in 2022. Paid 1.5 million euros the first years, the front page wanted to increase the bill to nearly 5 million euros, according to Capital. Except that the negotiations were not successful: Molotov refused to pay such an amount while increasing legal proceedings and continuing to broadcast the channels and programs of the TF1 group without authorization. The latter therefore claims 5 million euros for "infringement of neighboring rights" to copyright, plus 2.4 million euros for "trademark infringement".
Launched in July 2016 by Jean-David Blanc (co-founder of AlloCiné), Pierre Lescure (co-founder of Canal +) and Jean-Marc Denoual (ex-TF1) then recently bought by the American FuboTV, the application would count four million d 'active users.
But only 250,000 paid subscriptions, according to Les Echos.