TF1 Threatens To Sue Canal+ As Pay-TV Giant Drops French Network’s Channels In Carriage Fees Dispute

Netflix announced the release date of the third season of the romantic comedy. Set and filmed in the provinces of Paris, including Ile-de-France, the series follows Emily Cooper, who lands an unexpected opportunity to provide an American insight for French luxury marketing company - Savoir. Emily - played by Lily Collins - initially struggles to adapt to the Parisian lifestyle, which is a different world to her Midwestern upbringing, as she tries to win over her new work colleagues, creating new friendships and tangling herself in a complicated love story.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Danes may have surpassed the French in clashing with streamers. The Danish Producers’ Association and Create Denmark, the guild representing writers, actors and directors, among others, have been involved in a bitter dispute over fees and rights with local and global streaming services including Netflix and Viaplay since January. While Viaplay signed a temporary agreement over the summer which is valid through December, other services, including Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ and Amazon Prime have fully stopped the development or production of Danish content since January. The estimated loss of revenue for the country is approximately $200 million, according to Lene Børglum, a leading producer in Denmark whose credits includes Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Only God Forgives” and “Copenhagen Cowboy” which Netflix had ordered way before the start of the dispute. The series world premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Former Canal+ CEO Rodolphe Belmer is taking charge of TF1.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rodolphe Belmer, the former CEO of Canal+ Group, is set to join TF1 and is on track to be appointed managing director of TF1, France’s leading commercial channel. Gilles Pélisson, who is currently the chairman and CEO of TF1 Group, will propose Belmer as CEO at an Oct. 27 board meeting. Belmer would then fully succeed Pélisson as chairman and CEO after the following board meeting on Feb. 13. Pélisson will remain at the company as chairman of the Board of Directors until Feb. 13 and will then join the Bouygues group as senior VP in charge of media and development.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Canal+ Group, the Vivendi-owned French TV group, has won its court case against TF1 after being sued by latter following a dispute over carriage fees. The ruling was issued on Sept. 22 by the business court of Paris. Chaired by Maxime Saada (pictured), Canal+ was previously distributing TF1 and its channels TFX, TF1 Séries Films and LCI as part of its TNT Sat paybox platform which traditionally gives access to all French channels. But when their pact was about to expire on Aug. 31, TF1 tried to renegotiate the terms of the agreements and asked Canal+ for pay 50% more for the right to distribute its free-to-air channels. Canal+ refused and subsequently stopped distributing them, leading TF1 to sue the banner.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix has unveiled first look images of Darren Star’s Emmy-nominated hit show “Emily in Paris” season three. The show’s third and fourth seasons are currently filming in France. Netflix will be unveiling some special news on “Emily in Paris” on Sept. 24 during its virtual Tudum event. The third season brings back producer and star Lily Collins also returns Lily Collins, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Lucien Laviscount, Lucas Bravo, Ashley Park and Camille Razat, among others. Season three follows Emily as she finds herself at a crucial crossroads in every aspect of her life. Faced with two very different paths, Emily will have to decide exactly where her loyalties lie — at work and in her romantic life — and what those decisions mean for her future in France, all while continuing to immerse herself in the adventures and surprising twists and turns that life in Paris provides.  The first images unveiled today suggest Emily will reunite with her British boyfriend, played by Laviscount.

European giant Bertelsmann has put M6 up for sale following the collapse of the French broadcaster’s merger with TF1.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent TF1 and M6 groups, France’s top two commercial networks, have abandoned their plans to merge after being auditioned by France’s anti-trust board. “Following the debates with the Authority and despite the additional remedies proposed, it appears that only structural remedies involving at the very least the divestment of the TF1 TV channel or of the M6 TV channel would be sufficient to approve the proposed merger,” said the companies in a joint release. As a result, the “proposed merger no longer has any strategic rationale,” the statement continued. TF1, which is owned by Bouygues, and M6 Group, which is part of Bertelsmann-owned RTL Group, had unveiled their merger plans to form a $4-billion European media powerhouse back in May 2021.

The merger of French broadcasters TF1 and M6 has been abandoned.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Canal+, France’s leading pay TV group, has signed distribution deals with Universal and Sony to ramp up its programming of U.S. movies. Under the pact, Canal+ now has access to the studios’ new films six months after their releases. Sony’s “Spiderman : No Way Home” is currently being broadcast on Canal+’s linear pay TV channels, along with its transactional VOD platform, My Canal. The news was half-revealed by Maxime Saada, Canal+ Group’s chair and CEO, during the company’s upbeat press conference on Sept. 14, which was held at their posh headquarters in Paris. Saada, who recently joined the management board of Vivendi, Canal Plus Group’s parent company, said the outfit already boasts partnerships with Fox, Disney and Warner, as well as Paramount.

TF1 detective series HIP (High Intellectual Potential) is to be remade by Disney Television Studios-backed ABC Signature in the U.S.

Related: Jean-Luc Godard: ‘Film is over. What to do?’ Born in Paris in 1930, Godard grew up and went to school in Nyon, on the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

, she's still the in my heart. The actor wore a dramatic mini dress on the , complete with exaggerated hip padding and swirling boob cones—a silhouette associated both with the French design house and Madonna. The rest of outfit was simple: sheer, black tights and pointed-toe pumps helped keep all eyes on her silver zippered dress.

Not wasting any time. Leonardo DiCaprio has got his eye on Gigi Hadid after his split from Camila Morrone.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall has shown off her impressive knowledge of antiques, as she visited the Eden Project to take part in an episode of the Antiques Roadshow. The Cornish attraction’s two enormous “biome” greenhouses hosted the BBC show’s various experts as locals brought their prized possessions and family heirlooms along to be valued.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent   Eight years after delivering his Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako is set to make his anticipated directorial comeback with “The Perfumed Hill.” Gaumont is representing in international markets and will introduce it to buyers at at Toronto. The French studio will also distribute the film in France, while Cohen Media Group will release it in the U.S. Re-teaming Sissako with his “Timbuktu” co-writer Kessen Tall, “The Perfumed Hill” is a romance drama set between China’s tea hills, the Ivory Coast and Cape Verde. It stars Nina Melo (“Girlhood”), Han Chang (“Little Big Women”) and Ke-Xi Wu (“Nina Wu”).

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Germany’s KiKA, France’s TF1 and Denmark’s DR Sales figure among the best-known of contenders for the 2022 Cartoon Tributes, awarded for outstanding achievement in Europe’s TV animation industry. France, followed by Spain, dominates Cartoon’s three categories of broadcaster, investor/distributor and producer of the year, which will be voted on by the about 1,000 delegates at this year’s Cartoon Forum, which takes place in Toulouse, Southern France, over Sept. 19-22. Award winners will be announced on Sept. 22.  Backed by German public broadcast giants ARD and ZDF, KiKa figures as Germany’s biggest kids connect provider. But it will face tough competition from TF1 Unité Jeunesse, the children’s  arm of giant French broadcast network TF1 whose kids slot TFOU broadcasts 70 hours of programming a year.