CanalSat has won a small victory in its battle with BFM-TV and NRJ12 with regards to the EPG position of the two channels. The French State Council (Conseil d’Etat) has suspended a decision of the media authority CSA.
Last Deecmber, the CSA had ruled that CanalSat had to give the two broadcasters the same position on their EPG as on the national terrestrial network, NRJ12 at channel #12 and BFM-TV at channel #15, before March 1. The authority found the positioning of the DTH platform “discriminatory”. At the moment, NRJ12 sits at #36 and BFM-TV at #55.
BFM-TV is a news channel that competes with i-Télé, a news channel from the Canal+ Group. CanalSat appealed the decision with the Conseil d’Etat, which has now suspended the ruling pending further review of the situation by the CSA.
In another matter between CanalSat and BFM-TV, The Court of Appeal of Versailles has confirmed a ruling by Court of Commerce of Nanterre that CanalSat had no right to turn on their satellite receivers automatically to i-Télé. (See Broadband TV News passim).