Canal+ responds to threats from France’s Minister of Culture of non renewal of licences for its channels

French pay TV outfit Canal+ Group have said in a statement they are shocked by the comments made by France’s Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, following threats of non renewal of licences for Canal owned C8 and Cnews.

Abdul Malik commented on the morning show of France Inter, “there have already been about twenty interventions by Arcom since 2019 for C8 and CNews. After how many interventions we consider that the obligations are not respected, it is Arcom’s role to say so. I’m just reminding you of the framework that exists.

In response, the company said the Culture Minster’s was devoted to criticising the Group and her comments were “invective against our channels C8 and CNEWS.”

They stated, “by suggesting once again that our channels’ licences do not deserve to be renewed in 2025, even though she refuses to comment on the renewal procedure of other broadcasters, the Minister is taking sides, stepping out of her reserve and failing to respect the independence of our sector regulator.

“In doing so, the Minister, guarantor of freedom of expression, not only undermines the credibility and integrity of our channels, but also criticizes the work of our teams and causes concern to our employees by threatening the sustainability of their professional activity,” they added. “The CANAL+ Group is proud of the work carried out daily by all the employees of C8 and CNEWS, which bring together nearly 11 million citizens every day.”

Canal+ also expressed its disapproval in a statement yesterday (9 February) after C8 was fined EUR 3.5 million, following exchanges between Cyril Hanouna and Louis Boyard on the set of the programme Touche Pas à Mon Poste.

The company said, “Canal+ Group will implement all possible means of recourse as soon as possible.”