A case that never stops being talked about. On December 12, we explained to you that Arcom officially confirmed the exclusion of the C8 and NRJ 12 channels from DTT after February 28, 2025 at midnight. As for the files of CMI TV (Réels TV) and Ouest France TV, they were validated by Arcom on Wednesday December 11, 2024. This means that the two channels will be able to begin their activity on March 1 and September 1 respectively.
A request for suspension and cancellation
Nevertheless, NRJ Group wants to believe that a future on TNT for the private channel directed by Jean-Paul Baudecroux remains possible. In a press release from NRJ GROUP dated Thursday December 19, 2024, we can read: “On December 17, 2024, NRJ GROUP and NRJ 12 filed an interim appeal and an appeal on the merits before the Council of State in particular against the decisions taken by Arcom on December 11, 2024 relating to the rejection of the application of NRJ12, and the decision not to allocate the frequencies released by the withdrawal of pay channels from Canal +. NRJ 12 and NRJ GROUP request the suspension (by the summary judge) and the annulment (by the trial judges) of these decisions so that Arcom can re-examine the application of NRJ 12, taking into account the reasons why its decisions will have been declared illegal”.
Thus, the press release sent to the media explains: “On the one hand, My face negotiated the agreements in a framework not provided for by law, allowing only “pre-selected” candidates to improve their files without giving the same opportunity to others. This while before the Council of State, Arcom had recalled the non-final nature of its preselection, and its obligation to modify it in order to be able to begin convention negotiations with a candidate initially rejected, if a preselected candidate renounced his candidacy or refused to sign the agreement. This obligation was not respected and, despite its request, NRJ 12 was never called back by Arcom to negotiate its agreement”.
Also read: “It’s incomprehensible”: The CEO of the NRJ 12 group Jean-Paul Baudecroux reacts for the first time to Arcom’s decision not to renew the channel’s TNT frequency
In this same text from the group founded by Jean-Paul Baudecroux, it is also written: “On the other hand, Arcom modified the scope of its call for applications during the procedure, without allowing candidates to adapt their files, thus violating the fundamental principles of transparency and fairness between candidates. Indeed, the call for applications launched in February 2024 concerned the allocation of 15 free or paid DTT frequencies. On December 12, Arcom finally decided to authorize only 10 free services and to freeze frequencies following the withdrawal of CANAL +'s pay DTT channels.”.
