Millions of viewers worldwide could miss live coverage of the commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day next week because the French president’s office reversed a decision to grant international news agencies free access to the broadcast.
The administration of Francois Hollande has handed two French broadcast networks exclusive rights to the main international ceremony, and they are now imposing sports-style syndication fees on global news agencies, satellite and cable news channels, and online news outlets.
The French host broadcasters, France Televisions and TF1 , are demanding that global news providers AP , AFP , Reuters and ENEX pay nearly € 200,000 ($265,000) collectively for live broadcast and online streaming coverage of the official ceremonies.
The French networks are providing coverage free to European state broadcasters.
