Togo: TVSAT ordered to pay more than one million euros to French TV service provider Mediawan

ITC

Monday, 22 October 2018 11:41

Togo: TVSAT ordered to pay more than one million euros to French TV service provider Mediawan

(Togo First) - Last October 10, Togolese pay TV provider TVSAT was ordered by the Paris Commercial Court to pay more than a million euros to French TV service provider Mediawan. According to Ecofin Agency which reported the news, TVSAT failed to pay the royalties it owed Mediawan under a distribution agreement dating from August 2011.

Indeed, on 2 August 2011, AB THEMATIQUES, formerly AB SAT, owned by Mediawan, signed with Beninese pay TV provider TV COM an agreement to launch a satellite-based pay TV service. Under the deal, the Beninese firm was entitled to exclusively provide Mediawan’s channels in French-speaking Africa. However, on 2 November 2012, TV COM transferred its contract with AB SAT to Togolese TVSAT, all obligations included.

In September 2015, AB SAT negotiated with TVSAT to cancel exclusivity over its channels in French-Speaking Africa. Finally, the two parties reached an agreement under which AB SAT was to pay a monthly royalty for every subscriber receiving Mediawan’s channels through any other provider than the Togolese firm. Meanwhile, the latter would still keep paying AB SAT to broadcast its channels.

Yet, a few months after the deal was reached, TVSAT stopped paying what it owed AB SAT but kept broadcasting Mediawan’s channels. After many infructuous warnings issued to get the Togolese firm to pay, both parties tried to negotiate a new deal but failed. As a result, AB THEMATIQUES terminated its deal with the two parties on December 7, 2017, before suing TVSAT and its guarantor TV COM. Mediawan’s subsidiary then demanded payment of what the two operators owed, with interests.

In return, TVSAT and TV COM also sued Mediawan highlighting various grievances to the contract signed in August 2011. However, the two were ordered by the French legislation to pay the French firm, with provisional enforcement, meaning that the debt can be collected pending an eventual appeal.

Servan Ahougnon

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