French streaming service Molotov is facing a downside to its increasing popularity as users top 13 million.
An ongoing dispute with M6 led the broadcaster to remove its channels from basic packages, resulting in Molotov heading to the courts. In February the Paris Commercial Court ruled in Molotov’s favour, but last Wednesday the decision was overturned by the Paris court of appeal.
Capital reports Molotov had demanded that M6 withdrew its request for carriage fees for the retransmission of its free-to-air DTT channels. However, M6 stood firm with the court rejecting all of the streamer’s arguments.
Molotov, which had claimed €1 million in damages was order to pay M6 €30,000 in legal costs.
Meanwhile, TF1 is demanding an annual €5 million from the start-up as the Bouyges-owned channel seeks to impose the same ratecard as it does to cable and satellite distributors.
Under the scheme, TF1 bases remuneration fees according to the number of subscribers. However, Molotov insists its model is “significantly different” from other operators, so the standard ratecard should not apply.
