After the 7 million euros to M6, the online television service Molotov was ordered by the Paris court to pay 8.5 million euros to the TF1 group for “forgery” and to stop broadcasting its channels. . By continuing the distribution of TF1, LCI or TFX for lack of agreement, “Molotov has committed acts of infringement of the neighboring rights of the audiovisual communication company”, the court said in a decision issued on Friday.
Channels today inaccessible but discussions are underway
Also condemned for “trademark infringement” with the reproduction of the logos of the channels, the French platform will have to stop broadcasting them within 15 days, under penalty of being fined 75,000 euros per day of delay. The three channels were inaccessible Monday on Molotov. The management of the TF1 group indicated that “discussions are still underway” concerning the financial conditions for broadcasting.
On December 2, Molotov had already been ordered to pay more than 7 million euros to M6 in a similar case, before the two parties reached a broadcast agreement a few days later. The TF1 group also accuses it of the “illegal” distribution of its channels, and of an “infringement of neighboring rights” since July 1, 2019, the expiry date of an experimental agreement signed in 2015.
The platform denounces restrictive competition practices
The platform, which denounces for its part “practices restricting competition”, sued TF1 before the Paris Commercial Court, a procedure still ongoing. Accusing M6 and TF1 of having broken their agreements “in a brutal and abusive manner”, Molotov had also seized the Competition Authority, which however rejected his complaint in 2020, “for lack of sufficient evidence”. Launched in 2016, the platform claims more than 17 million registered users, the daily The echoes estimating at 4 million the number of its active subscribers.