BROADCASTING SOVEREIGNTY: Burkina Forces Canal+ to Yield: A Lesson for Benin?

Since August 27, 2026, Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB) has won a strategic standoff against the French giant Canal+. The three Burkinabe public channels (RTB, RTB Zénith, and RTB 3) are now accessible for free on the operator’s decoders, even when a household’s subscription has expired.

To achieve this outcome, the Burkinabe regulatory authority (the CSC) did not hesitate to impose a total of 250 million CFA francs in fines on the private operator between June and July 2026, compelling it to comply with the agreement signed in February 2025. For Ouagadougou, this move to free-to-air broadcasting is not merely a technical access measure; it is an act of media sovereignty, guaranteeing every citizen access to public information during times of national crisis.

Analysis: What if Benin demanded the same for the SRTB?

In Benin, the national channel (recently reorganized under the SRTB) remains subject to the subscription rules of paid packages. As soon as a household’s Canal+ subscription expires, access to the public television signal is cut off—even though it is a public service funded by Beninese taxpayers.

A similar move by the Beninese state would raise several key issues:

Guaranteeing the right to public information: National television is a vital vehicle for government communication, education, and social cohesion. Making access to it conditional upon a paid subscription renewal with a private multinational creates discrimination based on income. Reasserting regulatory authority: Faced with the dominant market position of foreign audiovisual operators, the Beninese regulator (HAAC) could look to the example set by Burkina Faso to enforce the « must-carry » principle for free-to-air broadcasting (the obligation to carry public channels at no cost).

Accelerating the DTT alternative: While free access via paid satellite decoders offers an immediate solution, the underlying challenge for Benin remains the effective rollout and widespread adoption of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT)—the only channel that guarantees true independence from private pay-TV packages.

The case of Burkina Faso demonstrates that institutional and regulatory leverage can compel multinational cable companies to respect the public interest. It raises the question of whether other states in the region possess the political will to make free access to their national media a non-negotiable priority.

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