Burkina Faso’s media regulator has slapped French broadcaster Canal+ with a second, much larger fine, accusing it of failing to provide free access to state TV channels, a statement seen by AFP on Wednesday showed.
The watchdog imposed a penalty of 200 million CFA francs ($350,000), four times higher than a 50 million CFA franc fine handed down in June for what it called Canal+’s failure to comply with obligations.
Authorities in the military-led west African nation require Canal+, whose pay-TV packages are popular across Africa, to keep state broadcaster RTB’s channels available to subscribers even after their subscriptions expire.
Under a 2024 agreement between Canal+ International and the media regulator, the company must continue carrying the public channels free of charge for users in Burkina Faso.
But the regulator said the company had failed to comply with a 30-day deadline following the earlier sanction in June over what it called a failure to meet its contractual obligations.
