Before the deputies, the CEO of the Canal+ group Maxime Saada recognized Thursday that the broadcasts of the controversial host Cyril Hanouna, on his channel C8, could produce “
excesses
” but, he assured, “
it is a risk we take
.”
“
It is live, we are taking a risk, which we fully assume
,” said Maxime Saada, interviewed by the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the allocation of DTT frequencies.
“
What makes Cyril Hanouna successful is his nature, his spontaneity” and “this can give rise, when we are live, to excesses
” leading to sanctions from the media regulator, Arcom, he added.
But “
it’s very rare” and “when we are sanctioned, we comply with the sanction
”, underlined the boss of Canal+.
The rapporteur of the commission of inquiry, Aurélien Saintoul (LFI), then commented: “
the Arcom fines are not dissuasive
”.
The program “
Touche pas à mon poste
” (TPMP) by Cyril Hanouna has earned C8 a shower of warnings and sanctions from Arcom in recent years, for a total of 7.5 million euros.
Cyril Hanouna himself must be heard on March 14 by the parliamentary committee.
“
There is no question for us of evading the authority of this independent institution
”, Arcom, Maxime Saada had previously insisted.
“
We have always strived to respect our obligations on all of our channels, paid or free, and we have accepted the rare sanctions when this was not the case
,” he said.
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Group frequencies put back into play
The CEO indicated, unsurprisingly, that his group was going to once again “
apply for all of (its) pay and free DTT channels
”, while the frequencies are coming back into play. And “
if the methodologies and conventions (between Arcom and the channels, editor's note) change, we will continue to comply with them, because it is our responsibility (...)
", supported Maxime Saada.
In a tense atmosphere, the boss of Canal+ questioned
the "impartiality
" of the commission of inquiry, pointing in particular to the large number of hearings of officials of his group as well as comments in the press by the rapporteur.
Aurélien Saintoul spoke of “
a Mexican army
” being interviewed.
“
The national issue should be primarily how we allow national players to compete with players who escape local regulations, rather than trying to suppress channels, channels which contribute to media pluralism and have demonstrated their interest with the public
,” accused Maxime Saada.