Brussels, 27/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is gearing up to send a warning on Thursday 29 September to France. This will declare that under European law TF1, M6 and Canal+ television bonus channels are illegal. In this case it is expected to be included in the list of infringements launched and pursued and which will be published by the Commission on Thursday.
At the end of 2010, the Commission warned France about these additional channels allocated to traditional TV operators during the digital changeover. The Commission considers that this allocation appears to contravene competition rules, which stipulate that granting licences must be done according to objective, non-discriminatory and proportional criteria. The bonus channels were allocated by law to the traditional TV operators TF1, M6 and Canal+, in an effort to compensate for the fall in the number of viewers and the subsequent decline in revenue provoked by the appearance of competing channels on TNT. The Commission, however, underlined at the end of 2010 that, during the first decade of the century and in view of the digital changeover, the traditional TV operators had already benefited from significant advantages and that there was a risk of “overcompensation”. (LC/trans/fl)