Pay-TV broadcaster Canal+ has won a landmark piracy case in the French courts.
The Paris Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Canal+ for the blocking of illegal streaming and IPTV services by alternative domain name system (DNS) providers Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco.
Canal+ asserted that the first-of-its-kind decision in France marks a decisive turning point in the protection of the content of the global media and entertainment group.
The company continued that the Court of Appeal validated the principle of blocking illegal streaming and IPTV services via alternative DNS providers, considering this measure technically feasible and proportionate.
In a statement, Canal+ wrote: “After securing first‑instance decisions in 2022 for the blocking of illegal streaming sites by internet service providers, then alternative DNS providers in 2024, followed by CDN, proxy, and VPN services in 2025, these rulings from the Paris Court of Appeal are fully aligned with the group’s strategy of requiring technical intermediaries of all kinds to take responsibility in the fight against audiovisual piracy.”
The Canal+ group has 40 million subscribers worldwide, operates in over 70 countries, and has approximately 15,000 employees. Earlier this year, Canal+ took over Africa’s MultiChoice. It also has equity stakes in Scandinavian pay-TV firm Viaplay and South Asian streamer Viu.
To enable users to find content through natural language queries, the Canal+ app will roll out a search function powered by OpenAI technology in June 2026. Discover more here.
Netflix forecast to reach 400 million subscribers by 2031
Netflix is forecast to reach nearly 400 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2031, reinforcing its position as the world’s leading subscription streaming platform despite growing consolidation across the industry.
Early Freeview switch-off would be “unprecedented gamble” for UK TV
Switching off Freeview in the 2030s would be far more complex, costly, and risky than the UK’s digital TV switchover, according to a report by Christy Swords, the former Director of Change at ITV Broadcasting, who was involved in the original process.
RTS names Chair of Student Television Awards at annual ceremony
At the annual awards ceremony, the Royal Television Society (RTS) welcomed Rhuanedd Richards as Chair of the Student Television Awards.
.jpg)
Sony invests seven figures in AI copyright protection startup
The Sony Innovation Fund has invested in Midnight Labs to protect IP from mass piracy, deepfakes, and AI-generated infringement in the US and Japanese markets.
CMA formally begins investigating Paramount's $110bn WBD merger
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published the commencement notice for its investigation of Paramount Skydance’s anticipated acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), marking the official beginning of the inquiry.
