the summary appeals of the two channels rejected by the Council of State

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The Council of State rejected, this Monday, December 30, 2024, the channels’ summary appeals C8 et NRJ12 against the non-renewal of their DTT frequency (digital terrestrial television) by Arcom, the audiovisual regulator, according to decisions consulted by AFP.

He thus considered that the condition of urgency necessary for an interim order was “not met”. In his decisions, he specifies that the case will be examined on its merits “in the coming weeks”.

“Excess of power”

In addition to the emergency procedure of summary proceedings, the two channels have in fact filed an appeal “for abuse of power” against the decision taken by Arcom in mid-December, it is indicated in the decisions of the highest administrative court.

After a pre-selection which excluded C8 et NRJ12 In July, Arcom signed 11 agreements on December 12 with the new TNT frequency holders, which do not include the two channels. Current authorizations will expire on February 28.

C8 et NRJ12 were dismissed by Arcom in favor of two new channels: one is launched by the CMI France group, owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, and the other by the Ouest-France group.

Their authorizations will begin respectively on 1^is March 2025 and September 1, 2025.
Owned by the Canal+ group, in the hands of conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, C8 has accumulated fines of 7.6 million euros due to the slip-ups of its star host Cyril Hanouna.

In 2024, C8 achieved a 3% audience share (as much as Arte), which makes it the leading DTT channel, according to annual figures published Monday by Médiamétrie. Cyril Hanouna and the entire Canal+ group have strongly contested in recent months the non-renewal of the C8 frequency.

“We are working on other avenues,” assures Cyril Hanouna

On December 18, the controversial host briefly participated in a protest demonstration of several dozen people in front of the Parisian headquarters of Arcom.
“We will, of course, continue to make the show until the end of February,” Cyril Hanouna declared at the time. After that, “we are working on other avenues” to continue the program, he added.

Canal+ management has already announced some 250 job cuts, including 150 linked to the end of C8according to the group’s inter-union association.

At the beginning of December, the group also announced the withdrawal from June 2025 of its four pay channels on DTT (Canal+, Canal+ Cinema, Canal+ Sport, Planet), invoking the non-renewal of C8 and “an increasingly restrictive tax and regulatory environment”.

For its part, NRJ12 (NRJ group), which mainly programs rebroadcasts, employs around a hundred people.

The channel considers that “Arcom negotiated the agreements in a framework not provided for by law by allowing only the + preselected + candidates (in July, Editor’s note) to improve their file” before its final decision, it had. indicated on December 19 after filing his appeals.

With AFP.

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