C8 () was a French

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

television channel owned by the Bolloré group. Initially named Direct 8, it was renamed D8 after it was sold to Canal+, later C8 in 2016. A subsidiary of the Canal+ group, Vincent Bolloré was its main shareholder.

History

The Direct 8 project was founded on 24 July 2001, date in which the CSA launches a call for offers to interested companies having a channel in the upcoming digital terrestrial television platform, a new mode of broadcasting increasing the number of available channels.

Vincent Bolloré Vincent Bolloré (; born 1 April 1952) is a French billionaire businessman. He was the chairman and CEO of the investment group Bolloré until his retirement from the family business in 2022. In January 2025, his net worth was estimated at US$ ...

presented the Direct 8 in front of the CSA, which received support, and he agreed for a broadcast license on 23 October 2002. Direct 8 was launched in 2005. After that in October 2012, it was renamed D8.

would take control of Canal+ in 2015. D8 changed its name to C8 on 5 September 2016, as announced by Vincent Bolloré. C8 launched in Belgium on 28 April 2020; the station previously did not air in the country as Plug RTL held the rights to its spotlight programme, '' Touche pas à mon poste !'' until that date.

License renewal rejection and wind-down of network

On 24 July 2024, Arcom announced that it would not renew C8's DTT frequency, following a number of fines imposed by the regulator amid many controversies around '' Touche pas à mon poste !'', and the channel announced that it would appeal to the ''

Conseil d'État In France, the (; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice, which is one of the two branches of the French judiciary system. Establ ...

''. Its first application for interim relief, challenging the list of shortlisted candidates for the allocation of DTT frequencies, was rejected in September 2024, and its first application on the merits was declared inadmissible as premature on the following 22 November. On 8 December 2024, the group announced the loss of 150 jobs as a direct result of this non-renewal. On 16 December 2024, Arcom issued its refusal decision, which was again contested on the merits and in summary proceedings by the channel. On 30 December 2024, the ''Conseil d'Etat'' rejected the second application for interim relief, ruling that the condition of urgency had not been met, and specifying that the appeal on the merits would be examined in a few weeks' time, before the contested decision was implemented at the end of February. In 2024, like NRJ12, C8 was a candidate for the renewal of its authorization to broadcast on national channel 8 of the French digital terrestrial television platform, set to expire on 28 February 2025. Among the elements that led to the decision of the media authority made public in February 2025, Arcom highlighted the failure of C8 concerning its obligations to offer programming mainly composed of entertainment and magazine shows; and lack of diversity in its schedule, including "the nightly reading program constitutes more than a quarter of the magazine offering". Furthermore, the fiction offering, estimated at 1,700 hours by year, was not original and almost systematically exploited the rebroadcasting of series previously offered by other channels. Arcom also noted that C8 did not respect its request to abandon live broadcast of ''Touche pas à mon poste !'', presented by Cyril Hanouna, without providing a written commitment defining the terms, while the latter has accumulated a record 7.6 million euros in fines for his excesses. Arcom also recalled during its hearing of C8 for the renewal of its frequency that the channel had been fined a total of 7,610,001 euros in the previous 8 years, which is the first. Most of the sanctions were due to the program ''Touche pas à mon poste !''. The organization of the channel had never changed to stop the misconduct despite Arcom's reminders to the channels concerning, among other things, their obligations regarding pluralism of information, control of the antenna, advertising, and broadcasting. ''L'informé'' reported in July 2024 that the channel had never generated any profit, and that the amount of its losses since 2005 amounted to 736 million euros. An unlikely solution considered by experts in the audiovisual sector, C8 could nevertheless survive despite its cessation of broadcasting through the DTT, by exploiting other distribution networks of the Canal+ group, notably via the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. C8, alongside NRJ 12, is the third French national private channel to see its broadcasting authorisation removed, after TV6 in 1987 then

La Cinq La Cinq (, ) was a French free-to-air television channel. Created by politician Jérôme Seydoux and Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, it existed from 1986 to 1992. The contract for France's fifth terrestrial network, which was suppos ...

in 1992, following its bankruptcy. The network wound down on 28 February 2025 after a showing of the 2019 American film '' Unplanned'', a film which had caused controversy during its original airing on C8 on 15 August 2021, due to its views against abortion (the network had already been fined €100,000 by Arcom in November for a program alleging that abortion was the world's leading cause of death). The channel broadcasts one last time on February 28 at 11:58 pm with farewell messages from its teams And after that it plunged in dark with the text: "La chaîne C8 à cessé d'émettre" then on 1 March 2025, the channel, alongside NRJ12, was removed from the Astra 1N and Eutelsat 5 satellites. In digital it shows the message "Un nouveau programme vous sera proposé sur ce canal à compter du 6 juin 2025".

Programmes

Entertainment

* '' Touche pas à mon poste !'', presented by Cyril Hanouna * ''Voyage au bout de la nuit'', night reading of famous literary works by actors (show named after the eponymous novel) * '' Domino Day'', presented by Valérie Bénaïm * ''Le Grand Bêtisier'', presented by Justine Fraioli & Caroline Ithurbide * ''Le Zap'' * ''La folle soirée du Palmashow''

Game shows

* ''L'Œuf ou la Poule ?'', presented by Sebastien Cauet * ''Le Grand Match'', presented by Valérie Bénaïm * '' Still Standing'', presented by

Julien Courbet Julien Courbet (born 7 February 1965) is a French journalist, television presenter and producer. Early life and education Julien Courbet was born Frédéric René Courbet in Eysines, a town located in the suburb of Bordeaux, department of Gir ...

* ''Guess My Age'', presented by

Jean-Luc Lemoine Jean-Luc Marie Lemoine (born 6 March 1970) is a French humourist, media personality and stand-up comedian. Early life A native of Paris, Lemoine grew up in Morangis, Essonne. His first scene was on his high school stage, in front of 800 fellow s ...

* ''Hold Up!'', presented by Benjamin Castaldi * ''Big Buzz Quiz'', presented by Benjamin Castaldi * ''Couple ou pas couple ?'', presented by

* ''Strike'', presented by

Vincent Lagaf' Vincent Rouïl (; born 30 October 1959 in Mont-Saint-Aignan), better known as Vincent Lagaf' (), is a French humorist, TV presenter, singer and actor. Biography In 1987, Vincent Lagaf', who had just arrived in Paris, came to national attentio ...

Infotainment

* ''Focus'', presented by Guy Lagache * ''Les Mystères'', presented by Cécile de Ménibus * ''Au cœur de l'enquête'', presented by Adrienne de Malleray * ''Histoire interdite'', presented by Guy Lagache

Talk shows

* ''C8 le JT'', presented by Émilie Besse * ''Langue de bois s'abstenir'', presented by Philippe Labro * ''La Nouvelle Édition'', presented by Daphné Bürki * ''Salut les Terriens !'', presented by Thierry Ardisson

Lifestyle

* ''Les Animaux de la 8'', presented by Élodie Ageron and Sandrine Arcizet * ''À vos régions'', presented by Grégory Galiffi * ''À vos recettes'', presented by Grégory Galiffi

References

External links

* {{French television stations Television stations in France Television channels and stations established in 2012 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2025 2012 establishments in France 2025 disestablishments in France Defunct television channels in France French-language television stations Canal+