France Télévisions forced to work with VOD service

French media regulator the CSA has ordered public broadcaster France Télévisions to make its channels available to internet TV provider Playmédia’s Play.tv service.

France Télévisions’ boss Remy Pflimlin

The CSA ruled the pubcaster must cooperate with Play.tv with ‘minimum delay’, following a request by the latter to force the broadcaster to engage with it.

The CSA said that Playmedia’s services were not incompatible with France Télévisions’ public service mission, and that the fact that the broadcaster did not hold all the rights necessary for the distribution of its programmes on the open internet did not allow it to avoid its obligation to make its channels available to third-party service providers.

It said it was up to France Télévisions to obtain the necessary rights to meet its obligations and ordered the broadcaster not to oppose the distribution of its services by Playmédia.

The move is the latest development in a long-running dispute between Playmédia and France Télévisions, which has consistently refused to make its channels available to the service and has in the past denied that the CSA has any authority to intervene where this would violate its agreements with rights holders.

However, France Télévisions’ services are available via other online platforms, such as that of Orange.