The French competition authority announced on Friday that it would authorize the acquisition of OCS and the Orange film studio ORAN.PA by Canal+, announced in January 2023, under conditions, “in order to remedy the risks of harm to the competition”.
In a press release, she explains that Canal+ Group is committed to maintaining two separate film acquisition teams, OCS/Ciné+ on one side and Canal+ on the other, to avoid a “single pre-purchaser of French films for broadcast in the first paid window.
In addition, Vivendi subsidiary VIV.PA will not oppose the transfer of broadcasting rights to a free-to-air catch-up television service for French films from the Orange Studio catalog, produced before the acquisition and for which Canal+ does not has no distribution mandate.
Canal+ has finally committed to offering subscription offers to interested distributors in overseas territories, in order to avoid the depletion of available films.
“All of these commitments are subscribed for a period of five years and may be subject to review,” specified the authority.
OCS is the second largest pay television service in France after Canal+.
(Written by Gaëlle Sheehan, edited by Sophie Louet)