The Euro-dictum: If it ain’t Bolted Down, It’s Yours’

It’s not for a lack of self-esteem, it’s that incredible lack of esteem they have for others. TF1 thinks their production is worth something, but just what value is seems to be what they can’t grasp. As an entity of the state, the only way to know would be to see what the market thinks of their radio and television output were they free to choose it on their own.

For that, there are the visible figures of how many of their clips are downloaded, such as one can discover by posting them on sites such as Youtube, Dailymotion, or LiveLeak. TF1’s stuff represents an amount so small that it’s nearly immeasurable.

So, just what is that statistically meaningless slice of Youtube’s traffic worth? TF1 thinks that’s 10 times the total amount of Youtube’s earnings. Normal people call that usury.

On Wednesday the newspaper Les Echos reported on its website that TF1 attacked the video sharing website YouTube.com in court. Un porte-parole de la chaîne de télévision a refusé de commenter cette informatiA spokesman for the television studio refused to comment on this information.

Le quotidien cite un porte-parole de YouTube selon lequel la plainte a été reçue il ya quelques jours en Californie, ajoutant que l'affaire serait néanmoins jugée en France, par le tribunal de grande instance de ParisThe newspaper quoted a spokesman for YouTube that the complaint was received a few days ago in California, adding that the case would be tried in France in the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris.

The video sharing site sometimes broadcasts content from television, without agreement on copyrights.

Selon Les Echos, les dommages et intérêts demandés par TF1 à YouTube, contrôlé par le géant américain Google, s'élèveraient à 100 millions d'eurAccording to Les Echos, the damages sought by TF1 from YouTube, controlled by the American giant Google, would amount to €100 million. "Dans le cas de YouTube, le montant des dommages demandés par la Une s'élève à 100 millions d'euros, soit dix fois plus que le chiffre d'affaires 2006 (de YouTube) qui atteignait 10,6 millions de dollars", peut-on lire sur le site du journal. "In the case of YouTube, the amount of damages sought stands at €100 million, or ten times more than [YouTube’s] turnover in 2006, which stood at 10.6 million dollars".

Les Echos ajoutent qu'une autre plainte contre le site dailymotion.com a été déposée en France en décembre.Les Echos added that another complaint against the site dailymotion.com was filed in France in December. Le montant des dommages et intérêts demandés dans ce dossier atteindrait 39,7 millions d'euros. The amount of damages sought in this case would reach 39.7 million.

That’s 944% of YouTube’s 2006 earnings and 90% of DailyMotion’s 2006 gross receipts for something which could only garner more interest from the exposure, is aired publicly, is posted by people who pay the TV tax to begin with for people who are not very likely to live outside France where that same television tax is levied.

This, in spite of the fact that TF1 smothering-parent France TV (previously known as RTF), and “official user” promoting itself at Dailymotion has an inherent near-monopoly over content and delivery in France and a major stake in other European markets built on that former absolute monopoly. Now they’re demanding their “rights”.

Get it? Peace, love, and making the state created cartels work “for the people.” Got that. People?

- H/T à Erik