Following the transaction, “Canal+ will become […] the sole shareholder” of the bouquet as well as of Orange Studio, indicates a joint press release.
SourceAFP
Published on
– Modified
Lhe audiovisual group Canal+ will acquire OCS, the pay channel package of the telecommunications operator Orange, as well as its film and series co-production subsidiary, they announced in a joint press release on Monday. The two groups have formalized “the signing of a memorandum of understanding” and indicate that “Canal+ will become the sole shareholder of the two companies at the end of this transaction”, OCS and Orange Studio.
The amount of the transaction is not specified. But according to the newspaper The echoes, “once will not hurt, it is the seller, that is to say Orange, who pays money to the Canal+ buyer”. Indeed, OCS, launched in 2008 and which has some 3 million subscribers, is “in debt and in losses”. This sum “would be less than 100 million euros and above all would not take the form of a dry check to Canal +”, say The echoes. According to the newspaper, this agreement closes a “negotiation of almost two years”.
READ ALSOFrench cinemas facing sofas and platforms
OCS has lost its iconic series
“Orange will have to bear future negative cash flows (when the company takes out more money than it comes in, editor’s note),” continues the newspaper, according to which “the operator has undertaken to pay minimums guaranteed to Canal+ over three to four years”. “OCS, billed 11 euros per month alone, has accumulated between 400 million and 500 million euros in losses since its launch, according to our information”, add The echoes.
At present, Canal+ is the main distributor of OCS and holds a 33.34% stake in it, which gave it a right of first refusal. Since 1er January, OCS lost one of its major contents, the emblematic series of the American channel HBO like Game Of Thrones Where The Sopranos. HBO has decided not to renew their distribution contract, in order to reserve its programs for its own streaming platform, which is not yet available in France.
READ ALSOVideo streaming: the end of the golden age