INFO THE FIGARO- The boss of France Television warns against the privatization of major sporting events by American platforms.
On Monday, the management of the Roland-Garros tournament therefore decided. She chose the Amazon Prime Video service to the detriment of the antennas of France Televisions, to broadcast the quarter-final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. And this configuration does not at all please Delphine Ernotte, the president of the public audiovisual group. According to our information, the leader clearly expressed her dissatisfaction on Tuesday morning during a board of directors attended by representatives of parliament, the budget ministry and culture. “This decision of the French Tennis Federation deeply shocks meshe said. This is a very bad blow to our partnership, as we have been participating for years in exposing and popularizing the tournament with all French people.“. And to add:I find it extremely shocking to favor an American player like Amazon to the detriment of public service, especially on an event financed in whole or in part by public money. The reverse would be totally unimaginable in the United States.».
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To avoid controversy, while Amazon broadcasts part of the Roland-Garros matches by paying, the French Tennis Federation wanted to reassure. This Tuesday night’s game will be accessible free of charge and without restriction, in France, on Prime Video, mobile and Web applications “Said a press release. In reality, if the meeting is indeed broadcast for free, it will nevertheless be necessary to register for Amazon Prime Video, indicating its identity as well as its email. “Free distribution by Amazon is a decoy: it only serves to generate subscriptions and data. And it’s a real breach of equality when not all French people have access to high-speed Internet“, castigated Delphine Ernotte during the Board of Directors.
For the president of France Télévisions, the decision of the FFT also comes to put in the spotlight a crucial file. “This event once again raises the question of the privatization of sport to the detriment of those who cannot afford it. There is an urgent need to protect free access to major events, especially for events financed with public money“, she insisted. Currently, about twenty sporting events called “of major importanceare protected by unencrypted distribution thanks to a decree dating from December 2004. The government has just launched a consultation with a view to modernizing this list, while the Tech giants – in France, Amazon has also won 80% of the Ligue 1 matches are becoming firmly established in the sports rights market.
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