Less than a week. Six days to be exact, is the time it took the major television networks to react to the launch of Free TV, the free streaming offer of the operator that wants to compete with Molotov and other actors already present in this niche…
“A brutal and unilateral method”
Today, Monday, October 27, France Télévisions and TF1 spoke out against the launch of Free TV, a free streaming offer from the Free operator that takes charge of its channels and content “without prior consultation” and without remuneration.
“This brutal and unilateral method demonstrates a disregard for the rights of rights holders, creators and actors in the audiovisual sector and their commercial partners,” criticize the public group and the private group in a joint press release.
“They ask public authorities and Arcom (the audiovisual regulator) to examine with the greatest attention this initiative that destabilizes the entire ecosystem.”
Questioned by AFP following these protests, Free indicated that his contracts with TF1 and France TV “allow him to distribute their channels.”
The desire to “preserve dialogue” with partners
“We have been partners of these publishers and rights holders for more than twenty years” and “we constantly collaborate” to “guarantee the accessibility of their content taking into account the evolution of uses and the audiovisual panorama,” insists Free, who assures that it is “at heart to preserve the dialogue with (its) partners.”
Launched last Tuesday, Free TV brings together more than 170 television channels, as well as movies and programs in repetition. The new offer, accessible to both free subscribers and non-subscribers, is complemented by a paid version for more content. Xavier Niel’s company presents it as “the largest free-to-air television offering in France.”
Faced with “the increasing dispersion of channels and platforms”, it is about “making the greatest possible amount of content accessible to the greatest possible number of people through a single platform in the interest of all,” Free said on Monday.
TF1 and France Télé emphasize that they themselves are “transforming to adopt new uses and investing massively in their TF1+ and France.tv applications with the aim of guaranteeing a quality editorial and user experience and sufficient income to allow the financing of content.”
However, “with this new offer, Free appropriates the services of the TF1 and France Télévisions groups without adopting a concerted approach aimed at guaranteeing their valuation and monetization.”
“This practice calls into question the development strategy and the resources available to publishers to finance creation,” insist the two groups, in a tense budgetary context for the sector.
Source: BFM TV
