Canal+ wins key piracy case in French courts

The Paris Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Canal+ for the blocking of illegal streaming and IPTV services by alternative domain name system (DNS) providers Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco.

Canal+ asserted that the first-of-its-kind decision in France marks a decisive turning point in the protection of the content of the global media and entertainment group.

The company continued that the Court of Appeal validated the principle of blocking illegal streaming and IPTV services via alternative DNS providers, considering this measure technically feasible and proportionate.

In a statement, Canal+ wrote: “After securing first‑instance decisions in 2022 for the blocking of illegal streaming sites by internet service providers, then alternative DNS providers in 2024, followed by CDN, proxy, and VPN services in 2025, these rulings from the Paris Court of Appeal are fully aligned with the group’s strategy of requiring technical intermediaries of all kinds to take responsibility in the fight against audiovisual piracy.”

The Canal+ group has 40 million subscribers worldwide, operates in over 70 countries, and has approximately 15,000 employees. Earlier this year, Canal+ took over Africa’s MultiChoice. It also has equity stakes in Scandinavian pay-TV firm Viaplay and South Asian streamer Viu.

To enable users to find content through natural language queries, the Canal+ app will roll out a search function powered by OpenAI technology in June 2026. Discover more here.