Canal+ hits French networks over rights
March 3, 2014
By Chris Forrester
Canal Plus is to sue France’s main terrestrial networks for allegedly denying the pay-TV broadcaster access to French-originated movies.
The problem is centred on the financing of the French movie industry, and when a broadcaster helps finance a film it usually gets a period of exclusivity to show that movie on its own network. According to Canal Plus these pre-emption rights are in place on between 60 to 80 per cent of films.
Canal Plus says that out of 2000 films held in the StudioCanal film library, “TF1 or M6 hold pre-emption rights on half of the 530 co-produced by TF1 or M6 since 1987”, and “of the 77 per cent films broadcast by an incumbent channel in 2010-2011 and co-produced by this channel and StudioCanal, 75 per cent are blocked through a pre-emption right or priority option”.