An expensive gift.
In a decision dated January 25, the Paris Judicial Court has just ordered Canal + to pay more than 1.5 million euros to TF 1. At issue is a dispute dating back to the first confinement imposed by the Covid crisis.
On March 16, 2020, Maxime Saada, boss of Canal +, announced the switch to free of charge for his pay channel, as a sign of solidarity with the millions of French people forced to stay locked at home.
A decision whose effect ended two weeks later, on March 31, 2020.
During this period, many viewers were able to watch new films on television without being a subscriber to channel 4. This provoked the anger of its free competitors, who had sometimes paid very dearly to be the first to offer them unencrypted.
Like TF 1, which had for example bet 1.8 million euros on the comedy “All Inclusive” with Franck Dubosc, or 4.5 million euros for the American blockbuster, “Avengers: Endgame.
» Two feature films offered by Canal + in March 2020.
France Télévisions preferred to abandon its proceedings
Believing that its competitor had thus violated the media chronology, the subsidiary of the Bouygues group criticized it for broadcasting 6 films for which it had acquired the first free broadcast window.
In April 2021, La Une took legal action, demanding more than 12 million euros from Canal + for “counterfeiting” and “unfair competition.
» After also subpoenaing the encrypted channel, France Télévisions preferred to abandon its proceedings.
According to our information, the public company reached an agreement with its competitor at the end of last year in this matter.
After a hearing on September 26, TF 1 has just partially won its case.
Dismissing the accusation of "counterfeiting", the Paris judicial court nevertheless considered that the front page had suffered a "depreciation of broadcasting rights" for three of the 6 films mentioned: the French comedies "All inclusive" and "Until here everything is fine,” as well as “Avengers: Endgame.”
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Canal + is considering appealing
The unencrypted programming of the first two feature films will cost the encrypted channel nearly 740,000 euros, compared to around 680,000 for the superhero film alone with Robert Downey Jr. To this sum is added 100,000 euros granted to the front page for compensation for moral damage.
The channel, however, was denied its other requests, including those for compensation for the broadcast of “Pokémon Detective Pikachu”, Godzilla 2” and “Crazy Rich Asians”, because it was unable to produce their purchase contract .
Contacted, the TF 1 group did not wish to comment.
For its part, Canal + says it is considering “appealing this judgment”.