CANAL+ Takes Stake in Orange Cinema Series Channels

PARIS: CANAL+ has finalized a deal to acquire 33.33 percent of the Orange Cinema Series package of channels from France Telecom.

Under the terms of the new partnership, France Telecom’s Orange will maintain a 66.66 percent stake in Orange Cinema Series, which includes Orange cinemax, Orange cinehappy, Orange cinenovo, Orange cinechoc and Orange cinegeant. Orange will continue to distribute its multichannel package and interactive services to its customers, while CANAL+ will offer the package to all CANALSAT subscribers. The two companies will also look to expand the reach of the bouquet to other operators.

The new pact is considerably different from the partnership proposed in January, in which the Orange Cinema Series package and CANAL+’s TPS Star would be brought together under one 50-50 joint venture.

Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO of Orange, commented, "Our goal is to promote the content of our production partners and to offer our customers innovative packages and services that build on the experience we have acquired in recent years and, of course, on our networks. To continue to develop the Orange cinema series package, of which we can be proud and which continues to be offered in its present form to our 400,000 customers, I know that we can rely on the formidable know-how of CANAL+ in the production and marketing of premium channels.”
 
Bertrand Meheut, chairman of CANAL+ Group, added, “This partnership with Orange, the ADSL market leader in France, is in line with our strategy of multiplatform distribution: making our offers as widely available as possible on all broadcast networks. This is a natural bridging of our respective know-how in technology and content production to make quality offers to all television viewers, accompanied by the most innovative services."