TF1 and Canal+ sign a “new distribution agreement”

They bury the hatchet. The television groups TF1 and Canal+ announced, through a press release published on Friday evening, November 4, that a “new distribution agreement” had been found. At the beginning of September, Canal+ had purely and simply stopped broadcasting the channels of the TF1 group on its channels and all its platforms. The group, owned by Vincent Bolloré, then justified its decision because of the commercial requirements deemed too high on the part of the TF1 subsidiary.

In response, the Bouygues subsidiary announced that it was filing a complaint. “We are not going to let ourselves be taken from the audience and leave our viewers without the possibility of watching our antennas without reacting“, said then on franceinfo Didier Casas, general secretary of the TF1 group. In their press release, the two groups “welcome” to have found common ground. The return to normal is scheduled for Monday, November 7, details the text.

An agreement that concerns five channels

In total, the broadcasting of five channels (TF1, TMC, TFX, TF1 Film Series, LCI) was in the balance, and it turns out that cutting the channels by Canal+ was becoming detrimental to the audiences of the TF1 group. In October, all of its five channels saw its audience share fall to 25.6%, against 27.7% a year earlier, according to statements by Médiamétrie.

This is not the first time that the two French audiovisual giants have fought over the subject of the distribution of the free channels of the TF1 group. In 2018, discussions between the two groups had already turned into a trade dispute and Canal+ had decided to cut the broadcast of TF1 for a while to its subscribers, causing an outcry among viewers. And it is precisely this agreement that ended on August 31, relaunching hostilities between these two behemoths of the French audiovisual landscape.