The Paris judicial court sentenced Molotov to 8.5 million euros in damages to the TF1 group and banned him from broadcasting its television channels. But discussions are underway between the two parties to try to find an agreement.
The Molotov application on a Samsung Galaxy S20 // Source: Frandroid
[PAPIER MIS A JOUR À 18H55 AVEC LA CONFIRMATION PAR MOLOTOV DE DISCUSSIONS AVEC TF1]
After the M6 group, it’s TF1’s turn to convict Molotov for counterfeiting. The television group, owned by the Bouygues group, has obtained a ban for Molotov to broadcast its free channels as well as 8.5 million euros in damages, as reported by the Capital site.
Like the M6 group, the TF1 group criticized Molotov for broadcasting its channels without authorization for two and a half years. Although TF1 had initially accepted the broadcasting of its channels (TF1, TMC, LCI, TFX) on an experimental basis in 2015 until mid-2019, the agreement had not been renewed. Despite this, Molotov had however decided to continue broadcasting the programs of the audiovisual group, even though TF1 had conditioned this broadcasting at a sliding scale according to the number of subscribers, with a minimum of 4 million euros per year.
It must be said that, if Molotov has 17 million registered users, only four million of them are counted as active and regular users of the platform. However, this disparity would have been detrimental to Molotov, pushing the platform to pay a price that it considered high.
A common practice according to the Paris judicial tribunal
Seized, the Paris court finally ruled in favor of the TF1 group, arguing that this type of tariff is “A common practice, applicable to all distributors”. For the court, the argument of the low proportion of active users is also irrelevant: “Molotov cannot usefully argue that the calculation method provided for in TF1’s offer is discriminatory on the sole ground that it is not favorable to him. […] Such a situation results only from the model of registration and management of accounts that Molotov has chosen and clearly does not plan to change, in particular by proceeding to a regular deactivation of dormant accounts ”.
The decision of the Paris court thus condemns Molotov to pay 8.5 million euros in damages to TF1 for infringement – a sum aligned with the price list set up by the television group – and prohibits him from broadcasting the channels. of the group on its service.
Ongoing discussions
This is Molotov’s second legal setback in a few months. In early December, the same Paris court ordered Molotov to pay 7 million euros to the M6 group for the same reasons. Eventually, M6 and Molotov struck a deal last month, making the group’s channels pay for platform users.
Molotov confirmed to Frandroid that discussions were underway with the TF1 group in order to find an agreement that could resemble the one signed with the M6 group. ” Discussions are underway with the TF1 group. No channel has disappeared from Molotov ”, recalls Valérie Guiard-Schmid, communications director of Molotov.
In other words, the spokesperson says that the channels concerned could well remain on the platform. But for the moment, it should be remembered that the court decision does impose this withdrawal. And this, as long as the two parties are still working on an agreement … or will not find it.
Moreover, as recalled Capital, the two companies are involved in another legal proceeding, Molotov considering that the price claimed by TF1 is too high.
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