Canal+ sets out conditions for continued presence on DTT

French pay TV outfit Canal+ has set out a number of conditions for remaining an active player in the country’s digital-terrestrial TV market.

Interviewed recently by media regulator ARCOM, Canal+ deputy CEO Grégoire Castaing said that, aside from efforts to combat piracy, the pay TV operator was still waiting on the “proof of love” that it had demanded in 2020.

Canal+ currently faces the threat of imposition of an increase in VAT from the 10% it currently pays to 20%. The pay TV operator maintains that the 10% rate was a condition of its willingness to continue to finance French cinema production. Canal+ has committed to invest over €600 million in French and European cinema over the next few years.

CEO Maxime Saada has called for much greater flexibility of conditions for its presence on digital-terrestrial in response to a changing competitive environment, including the ability to depart from DTT with reasonable warning if commercial constraints require that.

Canal+’s current authorisation to broadcast on DTT is set to expire at the end of 2023.