(AOF) – The Competition Authority announces that it has authorized “under conditions” the takeover of exclusive control of the companies OCS and Orange Studio by the Canal Plus group, which was notified to it on July 11, 2023. The Authority specifies that in order “to remedy the identified risks of harm to competition”, Canal Plus Group has “subscribed to commitments aimed, in particular, at preserving the diversity of the French cinematographic offering”.
The Authority noted that the operation “could have had a significant impact on the diversity of French cinema by creating a monopsony situation (single buyer) in certain markets”.
“To date”, she notes, Canal Plus Group and OCS constitute “the only two first window paid distribution windows to which French film producers can contact when they seek to obtain pre-financing for their projects of films”. The operation would therefore have the effect of “making the only alternative to Canal Plus Group disappear in the first window, namely OCS”.
In order to “preserve the diversity of French cinema”, Canal Plus Group is therefore committed to “maintaining an OCS/Ciné+ acquisition team, dedicated to the pre-purchase of first-window paid French films from French producers, distinct from that of Canal+”. In order to guarantee the effective separation and viability of this separate team, Canal Plus Group has notably undertaken to guarantee the strict and effective independence of the Ciné+/OS team in making decisions relating to the pre-purchase of French films from first paid window with French producers and the related negotiations with these producers, vis-à-vis the Canal+ team.
The group then undertakes to provide the Ciné+/OCS team with the proper means in terms of personnel and budget enabling it to pre-purchase first-window paid French films from French producers, and to maintain analytical accounting enabling it to clearly separate the costs and revenues of the OCS/Ciné+ team from those of Canal+.
Canal Plus Group has finally committed to making, for the Ciné+/OCS team, a pre-purchase proposal for a minimum of 25 French film projects over five years, including a minimum of four French film projects per year for films “for which the Canal+ acquisition team has refused to be broadcast in the first paid window.”