The French regulator CSA has ruled what has been termed a Judgement of Soloman in the dispute between Free and Altice.
Satellifax reports that Free is under no obligation to resume the distribution of channels belonging to the Altice Group, including BFMTV.
However, it does not allow Free to resume distribution of the channels without an agreement with their owner.
Ultimately, the CSA has called on both sides to reach an agreement in the public interest.
They nevertheless appear to have irreconcilable differnces, with Altice wanting to be paid for the broadcasting of its channels and associated services, including replay and catch-up, on the same model as agreements concluded between Free and the TF1 and M6 Groups and Free arguing that Altice does not have a valid commercial proposal.