TF1 in pay DTT partnership with Leclerc telecom unit

French commercial broadcaster TF1 could be planning to team up with a subsidiary of supermarket chain Leclerc in an attempt to revive pay TV on the country’s digital-terrestrial platform.

Media regulator the CSA issued a short release on Friday in which it noted that a digital-terrestrial pay TV service named Reglo TV and operated by TF1 Distribution and LTélécom, E Leclerc’s mobile subsidiary, conformed to the relevant 1986 statute.

TF1 previously tested a mini-bouquet of prepaid digital-terrestrial pay TV channels, Lib’Télé, in partnership with electronics retailer Boulanger, giving access to LCI, Eurosport and now defunct sports channel CFoot. The service, launched with little fanfare at the end of 2011, was seen in part as a response to Canal Plus’s acquisition of free-to-air channels owned by Bolloré, but no details of take-up were subsequently released.