French broadcasters hit out at tax

Leading French commercial channels have condemned the tax imposed on them to compensate France Télévisions’ loss of ad revenue following the partial ban on advertising on the public channels, and have demanded confirmation that the reform of the financing of public broadcaster France Télévisions will not act as a “deadweight” on their businesses.

TF1, M6 and Canal Plus, under the aegis of the Association of Private Broadcasters, have used the pubcaster’s recent revelation that it had suffered less from the advertising ban than expected to make the case that the argument for the tax was flawed. The broadcasters have called for urgent remedial action.

Separately, Nicolas de Tavernost, chairman of RTL-backed M6 has said that the decline in second half advertising revenue will be less severe than that seen in the first six months of the year. There will still be year-on-year declines, he added.