Canal Plus to appeal BFM TV ruling

French pay-TV provider Canal Plus has said it will appeal the decision of a Nanterre court that it tried to manipulate audience ratings in favour of its own information channel i-Tele to the detriment of competitor BFM TV.

As reported by DTVE Daily on November 24, BFM TV president Alain Weill accused pay-TV platform CanalSat of influencing audience statistics by changing the default setting on its set-top boxes so that they tuned in automatically to i-Tele after being switched off and on again. The Nanterre Tribunal de Commerce has now upheld Weill’s complaint and ordered CanalSat to desist under threat of a fine.

Canal Plus has said it will launch an immediate appeal against the decision. The pay-TV operator says that the default setting was part of a normal promotional campaign affecting a small number of subscribers for a limited time, and noted that BFM TV owner NextRadioTV itself engaged in “massive and systematic” cross promotion.

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