French TV channel shutdown causes outcry on the right

By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) - France's top administrative court has upheld a decision to shut down popular TV channel C8 for repeated failures to respect human rights and protect minors, causing an outcry among some right-wing politicians who alleged an assault on free speech.

The C8 channel is part of the Canal+ group owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bollore's media conglomerate Vivendi. The channel will go off air on March 1, after French media watchdog Arcom decided not to renew its 10-year licence and handed it to another bidding channel.

That decision was upheld late on Wednesday by the highest administrative court, which said Arcom had lawfully removed the licence, given C8's repeated failure to meet its contract obligations to respect people's rights and protect minors, but also its failure to turn a profit.

Right-wing politicians, including far-right opposition leader Marine Le Pen but also - more unusually - ruling conservatives were strongly critical.

Le Pen called it a "worrying decision that rules in favour of the Ayatollahs of group think".

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a conservative who is seen as having presidential ambitions, said C8 had "found an audience," and its removal was depriving it of a "space to express itself".

The court's ruling comes as Europe's policing of what can and cannot be said - either online or on TV - has been questioned by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

Vice-President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk have framed European attempts to place safeguards around an increasingly vitriolic and polarised media landscape as an attack on free speech.

Canal+ said it deplored the court's decision. Some 400 staff members and suppliers were likely to lose their jobs and C8 had proved its "liveliness" and popularity with more than 9 million viewers every day, it said in a statement.

"A whole ecosystem is being sacrificed," the group said.

Arcom imposed a record fine of 3.5 million euros ($3.66 million) on C8 in 2023 after its star show host, Cyril Hanouna, called a left-wing lawmaker a "piece of shit" and a "jerk" in 2022 for mentioning on its show the activities in Africa of C8's owner Bollore.

One of the warnings C8 received was over a decision to invite on the show a 17-year-old to talk about his parents' recent career move into pornography, which the regulator said could lead to the child being stigmatised in future.

Over the past few years, Bollore's media outlets have taken an increasingly right-wing turn, focusing on crime and immigration, as well as giving ample air time to politicians from Le Pen's party.

Media historian Alexis Levrier noted the court decision was based on a 1986 law passed by the conservative government of the day to regulate the media landscape.

"At the time, the moderate right knew that you can't allow everything on licences that belong to the state," he said on X.

($1 = 0.9565 euros)

(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Frances Kerry)