BFM TV and Canal fight over ‘audience manipulation’

By Robert Briel
November 23, 2009 14.24 UK

Alain Weill, president of the NextRadioTV group, owner of the French news channel BFM TV, has accused the Canal+ Group of trying to manipulate the audience in favour of the i-Tele news channel by having the CanalSat receivers automatically tune to their news channel.

Weill has filed complained with the media authority CSA and with the competition authority. During a press conference he showed the audience how a CanalSat receiver would automatically tune to i-Tele when switched on.

Canal+ reacted immediately to the accusation, claiming this concerns an experimental marketing campaign amongst a limited number of its subscribers for a limited time only. According to Canal, 1.8 satellite viewers are part of the experiment out of a total of 48.6 million people who can receive i-Tele and BFM TV.

The situation arises at a time when the CSA has to decide about another complaint by BFM TV with regards to the numbering of the EPG. The Canal+ owned i-Tele is on position #50, while BFM TV is placed at #54, behind euronews and La Chaîne parlementaire. It comes as no surprise that BFM TV is complaining about this placing.