M6 advertising window: Match against TSR is still open
The Freiburg ruling against the M6 advertising window is not yet final. The written judgment has not yet been issued, and M6 can appeal the case to the Federal Supreme Court. The advertising window therefore remains on the air.
TSR has won its case against M6," said the French-speaking Swiss broadcaster in a press release on February 18. The Fribourg cantonal court came to the conclusion that the French broadcaster M6 had violated copyright law and was engaging in unfair competition.
The background: since 2001, M6 can be received in French-speaking Switzerland via a second signal in which some French advertising blocks are replaced by advertising for Switzerland. However, TSR, which buys some of the same broadcasting rights for films and series as M6, took the view that M6 was thus leveraging the exclusive rights acquired by TSR for Switzerland. Despite this, Cablecom was one of the first cable network operators to switch on this second signal in its Fribourg network. TSR therefore filed a lawsuit there to set an example.
What is piquant about the new decision is that the same court had already ruled on the same matter once before (at the beginning of 2007) - and dismissed the TSR claim at the time. In the court's opinion, TSR was not entitled to sue, as it was not TSR but the film or series distributors who were the rights holders. TSR then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, which referred the ruling from Fribourg back to the cantonal court for reconsideration and at the same time held that TSR was entitled to sue.
On the basis of this verdict, the Freiburg judges now had to decide whether TSR's rights were actually infringed by the M6 advertising window. This question has now been answered in the affirmative, with the court finding a breach of UWG and copyright law.
M6 lawyer Bernhard Cron in Geneva was "surprised" when asked. The same applies to the M6 headquarters in Paris. However, as no written justification is yet available, he is unable to comment on the content. Whether M6 will now appeal the ruling to the Federal Supreme Court can only be decided once the reasoned ruling is available. However, he assumes so. "TSR may have won a set, but not the match," says Cron, putting TSR's jubilation into perspective.
Lengthy negotiations
As the ruling is not yet legally binding, the M6 advertising window will continue to be broadcast. According to IP Multimedia, which markets the advertising window, 95 percent of households in French-speaking Switzerland can currently receive the second M6 signal. M6 is in contact with the cable network operators and also wants to cover the missing 5 percent, says IP CEO Marcel Bosshard. Such negotiations are lengthy.
Only two years ago, the cable networks of Geneva and Lausanne took over the second signal, filling the largest gaps in coverage. In 2008, M6 achieved a net reach of 570,600 people and a market share of 9.5 percent in French-speaking Switzerland, and 305,000 people and 13.1 percent among 15 to 49-year-olds. According to the TSR communiqué, Mediafocus reported gross advertising sales of CHF 45 million for the M6 advertising window in the same period, which Cron describes as far too high. Bosshard, for his part, did not wish to comment on this.
Markus Knöpfli
The background: since 2001, M6 can be received in French-speaking Switzerland via a second signal in which some French advertising blocks are replaced by advertising for Switzerland. However, TSR, which buys some of the same broadcasting rights for films and series as M6, took the view that M6 was thus leveraging the exclusive rights acquired by TSR for Switzerland. Despite this, Cablecom was one of the first cable network operators to switch on this second signal in its Fribourg network. TSR therefore filed a lawsuit there to set an example.
What is piquant about the new decision is that the same court had already ruled on the same matter once before (at the beginning of 2007) - and dismissed the TSR claim at the time. In the court's opinion, TSR was not entitled to sue, as it was not TSR but the film or series distributors who were the rights holders. TSR then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, which referred the ruling from Fribourg back to the cantonal court for reconsideration and at the same time held that TSR was entitled to sue.
On the basis of this verdict, the Freiburg judges now had to decide whether TSR's rights were actually infringed by the M6 advertising window. This question has now been answered in the affirmative, with the court finding a breach of UWG and copyright law.
M6 lawyer Bernhard Cron in Geneva was "surprised" when asked. The same applies to the M6 headquarters in Paris. However, as no written justification is yet available, he is unable to comment on the content. Whether M6 will now appeal the ruling to the Federal Supreme Court can only be decided once the reasoned ruling is available. However, he assumes so. "TSR may have won a set, but not the match," says Cron, putting TSR's jubilation into perspective.
Lengthy negotiations
As the ruling is not yet legally binding, the M6 advertising window will continue to be broadcast. According to IP Multimedia, which markets the advertising window, 95 percent of households in French-speaking Switzerland can currently receive the second M6 signal. M6 is in contact with the cable network operators and also wants to cover the missing 5 percent, says IP CEO Marcel Bosshard. Such negotiations are lengthy.
Only two years ago, the cable networks of Geneva and Lausanne took over the second signal, filling the largest gaps in coverage. In 2008, M6 achieved a net reach of 570,600 people and a market share of 9.5 percent in French-speaking Switzerland, and 305,000 people and 13.1 percent among 15 to 49-year-olds. According to the TSR communiqué, Mediafocus reported gross advertising sales of CHF 45 million for the M6 advertising window in the same period, which Cron describes as far too high. Bosshard, for his part, did not wish to comment on this.
Markus Knöpfli
