CJEU sides with Canal+ against European Commission

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled in favour of French broadcaster Canal+, in a dispute with the European Commission over broadcasting contracts.

The dispute stems to a 2016 agreement between Paramount Pictures and the Commission, which regulates competition in the EU.

Under the terms of the deal, Paramount agreed not to enforce clauses in contracts it agreed with broadcasters, including Sky and Canal+, giving the broadcasters territorial exclusivity through geoblocking measures.

Other broadcasters including Sky and Disney would later agree their own deals with the Commission, including similar restrictions on geoblocking.

Canal+ challenged the Paramount deal at the EU General Court, arguing that it undermined its contractual rights and that the agreement with Paramount protected its IP rights. But in December 2018, the General Court dismissed the suit.

The French broadcaster appealed to the CJEU, which yesterday, November 10, held that the General Court made an error of law in upholding the deal.

Canal+ was backed in its appeal by the Union of Cinema Producers (UCP) and the association of European Film Agency Directors (EFADs).

The European Consumer Organisation, meanwhile, endorsed the Commission’s position and urged the CJEU to uphold the General Court’s findings.

According to the CJEU, the General Court failed to appropriately weigh the interests of third parties such as Canal+.

The EU’s top court said that the Commission’s deal with Paramount “rendered the contractual rights of the third parties meaningless, including the contractual rights of Groupe Canal+ vis-à-vis Paramount, and thereby infringed the principle of proportionality”.

The CJEU ordered the Commission to pay Canal+, the UCP and EFADs’ legal costs.

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