French media and entertainment conglomerate Vivendi’s Canal Plus Group has agreed to acquire production arm Orange Studio and full ownership of TV channels unit OCS from French telecom company Orange.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The content division Orange Studio co-produces films and distributes them in France, while selling them abroad. “Orange Studio has more than 200 co-productions to its credit as well as a catalog of nearly 1,800 audiovisual and cinematographic works, including Oscar-winning and emblematic films such as The Artist and The Father,” the companies said.
Canal Plus, led by CEO Maxime Saada, already owns a third of OCS, which operates several networks, and has boosted the latter’s reach by distributing it through its pay TV bundle since 2011.OCS has an exclusive output deal with Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO, which expires this year.
Observers have suggested that Canal Plus would likely look to strike a new deal with the newly merged industry giant, which is planning to launch a combined HBO-Discovery streaming service.
“Since their creation in 2007 and 2008 respectively, competition in the audiovisual sector, particularly for OCS, has continued to intensify with the emergence of powerful international platforms,” Orange said. “Given this context, Orange has endeavored to ensure the continued development of these two subsidiaries while preserving jobs and the pre-financing of audiovisual content.” (THR)