Canal Plus has had a demand for €293m ($398m) in compensation from rival French pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports thrown out by the Tribunal de Commerce business court.
Canal Plus, which had accused beIN Sports of unfair competition practices, was ordered to pay court costs of €100,000.
The broadcaster claimed that it had lost 187,000 subscriptions since the launch of beIN Sports in France by Qatari pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera in 2012. Canal Plus said that its rival had offered low subscription fees and had bid excessively for sports rights.
However, the court said that Canal Plus had failed to show that beIN Sports’ subscription models were “abnormally low in comparison with the market,” according to French newspaper Le Figaro.
The court added that the positioning of the two broadcasters was different, with beIN Sports focusing exclusively on sport and Canal Plus showing a range of entertainment programming, including sport.
“If beIN Sports has very substantial financial resources, it is also the case of the media group Vivendi, which… includes Canal Plus,” the court said.
It is unclear whether Canal Plus plans to appeal against the court’s decision.