Canal+/beIN Sports: viewers could continue to subscribe exclusively to beIN Sports France (press)

"Eventually, the viewer will be able to continue to subscribe exclusively to beIN Sports just as you can today. The negotiations between the pay-TV channel (Canal+) and the French competition regulator have been harsher than expected. The channel, chaired by Vincent Bolloré, must make concessions. But this is not enough for the competition authority as they intend to impose additional obligations," reported the French news channel BFM Business on 23/05/2016. In its conclusions, the competition regulation authority postponed the exclusive distribution agreement concluded between beIN Sports France and Canal+ until the first half of June 2016, on 19/05/2016.

"I think not only that Canal+ is salvageable, but that it shall be saved, subject to planned arrangements and economic streamlining," said Vincent Bolloré, chairman of the Vivendi Supervisory Board, the parent company of Canal+, to the French daily economic paper Les Echos on 17/05/2016. Among these agreements is one concerning the exclusive distribution of channels which belong to the pay-TV group beIN Sports France, licensed by…