Canal+ can finally buy OCS, but under certain conditions

After a year of discussions, it is finally official: the Competition Authority authorized this Friday the acquisition of OCS and Orange Studio by the Canal Plus group. An operation authorized, however, under certain conditions, and which requires Canal+ to invest in French cinema over several years.

Five years of commitment

In an official press release, the Competition Authority first notified that this acquisition represents a risk for the diversity of French cinema.

According to her, OCS and Canal “constitute essential windows in the arrangement of financing for film projects”. The operation would therefore have the effect of eliminating the only alternative to Vincent Bolloré’s channel, and of “place Canal Plus Group in the position of sole pre-purchaser of recent French films for broadcast in the first paid window”.

To compensate, the Competition Authority therefore correlated this expected acquisition with commitments. Canal+, which already owned a third of Orange’s channel bouquet, is thus obliged to maintain an OCS / Ciné+ acquisition team dedicated to French productions, and separate from the encrypted channel.

The Canal Plus group has also committed to making a pre-purchase proposal to this OCS / Ciné+ team on at least 25 French film projects over the next five years, with a minimum of four projects per year.

In addition, Canal+ must offer access to the Ciné+ / OCS offer to all distributors who request it. Please note that these commitments made over five years may be subject to review.

These safeguards promise to protect the French film creation process. For its part, OCS is abandoning content creation and focusing on production and acquisition, a year after losing the rights to HBO series, part of Prime Video’s Warner Pass.

This agreement allows Canal+ to further strengthen its offering against American streaming platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+. As a reminder, the encrypted channel has been offering Apple TV+ programs in its offering since last April, and at no extra cost. Its Ciné Séries pack also provides access to Disney+, Netflix, OCS and Paramount+ services.