The French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné revealed on Wednesday that the Canal+ Group “refuses to pay its dues” to French cinema.
Since the arrival of Vincent Bolloré at the helm of the premium broadcaster, the group has been short €40m for the years 2017 and 2018.
The French media regulator CSA has to deal with this dispute between the Canal Plus group and the film industry.
Canal Plus is one of the biggest financial supporters of French cinema. By law, each year, the Canal+ Group (and not the channel) must pay 12.5% of its total revenues to European cinema, including 9.5% to French cinema.
The problem, according to the weekly, is that since the arrival of Bolloré, there is a shortfall of €40m for the years 2017 and 2018. Behind the scenes, the CSA is trying as best it can to get everything back in order, but without being too abrupt with Canal+, the satirical newspaper ironically points out.
For its part, the Canal Plus group is trying to justify itself, claiming that its revenues have been falling for several years. But Le Canard Enchaîné claims that Canal+ has decided, on its own initiative, to take into account only its channel’s TV turnover for 2017 and 2018, and no longer the turnover of the whole group.
