Canal+ Loses Nearly 500,000 Subs

PARIS: Canal+ Group saw its revenues dip 4.7 percent year-on-year to €5.3 billion ($5.6 billion), with a decline from pay-TV operations in mainland France, as the subscriber base of Canal+ was down by 492,000.

Revenues from the pay-TV operations in mainland France were down 6.1 percent, primarily due to a decline of the individual subscriber base, which is now 5.25 million. This was despite a strong improvement in business performance toward the end of the year following the launch of the new Canal offers in mid-November.

Revenues from pay-TV international operations grew by 5.7 percent compared to 2015, thanks to continued growth in the subscriber base, particularly in Africa, where the year-on-year increase amounted to 692,000 to reach nearly 2.8 million subscribers.

At the end of December 2016, Canal+ Group had increased its subscriber base to approximately 11.5 million individual subscribers and 2.9 million Free and Orange customers following a deal in Q4 that allows the Canal TV offer to be included in the set-top boxes of these operators.

Advertising revenues from free-to-air channels in mainland France were up 6.9 percent year-on-year, notably thanks to C8.

STUDIOCANAL’s revenues amounted to €416 million ($440 million), down 26.1 percent compared to the record high achieved in 2015—which benefited from performances of movies such as Paddington, Shaun the Sheep, The Imitation Game, Legend and The Hunger Games.

Canal+ Group’s income from operations amounted to €303 million ($320 million), compared to €542 million in 2015, and EBITA amounted to €240 million ($254 million), compared to €454 million in 2015—mainly due to the decline in the individual subscriber base in mainland France (excluding wholesale agreements) and content investments.