Louise Bernard, with Alexis Patri
By deciding to schedule the Roland-Garros quarter-final between Nadal and Djokovic in the evening, and therefore to let Amazon Prime Video be the exclusive broadcaster rather than France Télévisions, the tournament management unleashed the anger of Delphine Ernotte, president of the public group, as revealed by “Le Figaro”.
She said she was “deeply shocked”. Delphine Ernotte, the president of France Télévisions, spoke Tuesday morning during a board of directors on the choice of the management of Roland-Garros to broadcast the Nadal-Djokovic match on Amazon Prime Video. It’s the newspaper Le Figaro which reveals the remarks made by Delphine Ernotte during this meeting attended by representatives of Parliament, the Ministry of Budget and the Ministry of Culture.
By deciding to schedule the Roland-Garros quarter-final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the evening, the management of Roland Garros has made Amazon Prime Video the exclusive broadcaster of the match, to the detriment of France Télévisions. “It’s a very bad blow to our partnership, while we have been participating for years in exposing and popularizing the tournament with all French people”, would have annoyed the president of the public TV group.
Denunciation of a “break in equality”
“I find it extremely shocking to favor an American player like Amazon to the detriment of public service, especially on an event financed in whole or in part by public money”, Delphine Ernotte would have added. She criticizes Roland-Garros for a “break in equality”, arguing that “not all French people have access to high-speed Internet”.
Although Amazon broadcast the match for free, the president of France Télé denounces “a decoy”. This free distribution “only serves to generate subscription and data”, according to her. Delphine Ernotte would have pleaded for “protecting free access to major events, especially for events financed by public money”.