Altice Scores Discovery, NBCU Deals

AMSTERDAM: Altice Group has landed agreements with NBCUniversal International and Discovery Communications for SFR in France and has revealed plans to launch a new premium channel dedicated to series and movies.

The agreement with NBCU will give Altice exclusive distribution of 13th Street, Syfy and E! Entertainment Television in France Metropolitan. Through a premium pay-TV output deal, SFR will offer films produced by NBCUniversal, including future titles within franchises such as Bourne, Fast & Furious and Despicable Me.

With this agreement, Altice also unveiled the creation of a new pay-TV channel in France, to be dedicated to cinema and series. This new SFR channel will offer a catalog of movies and series, notably thanks to the NBC Universal catalog, but also encompassing other French and European productions.

Michel Combes, CEO of Altice and chairman and CEO of SFR Group, said: “We are delighted to announce this agreement with NBCUniversal International which will enable us to achieve an unprecedented strategic partnership for a distributor in France. It covers both NBCUniversal International Networks’ portfolio, each leading in its genre, and its blockbuster productions, marking our entry into the field of cinema broadcasting. I am pleased our customers in France will now benefit from the best films and series of NBCUniversal.”

The pact between Altice and NBCUniversal International will also offer content for Altice customers in Portugal.

Separately, a partnership with Discovery Communications will see the launch of two new exclusive channels: Investigation Discovery (ID) and Discovery Family. ID will debut on December 15, while Discovery Family follows in summer 2017. They join Discovery Channel and Discovery Science, which are already available on SFR.

Combes commented: “With Discovery, a world-renowned player is partnering with Altice and SFR to enrich its offerings and maintain its exclusive and premium content strategy. I am pleased with the exclusive agreement we have signed with the largest producer of real-world entertainment which will allow all our customers to have access to dazzling content on all platforms. We know that Discovery is one of their favorite programs and we are proud to offer it.”

Marinella Soldi, the president and managing director for Discovery Networks Southern Europe, said: “For almost 20 years we have been educating and entertaining viewers in France, and we are excited to share even more great content with our superfans, starting with the launch of Investigation Discovery on December 15. Discovery is proud to work with all our partners, such as Altice, to bring our powerful brands and content to viewers around the world. In addition to the launch of two new channels, Discovery is continuing its robust investment to grow the more established channels, exemplified by the new and exclusive season of Gold Rush on Discovery Channel and NASA’s Unexplained Files on Discovery Science, available across all screens in the New Year.”