The amount of the transaction is not specified. At present, Canal+ is the main distributor of OCS and has a participation of 33.34 %, which gave it a pre -emptive right.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
They formalized “the signing of a memorandum of understanding”. The audiovisual group Canal+ will acquire OCS, the bouquet of paid channels from the Orange telecommunications operator, as well as its films and series co-production subsidiary, they announced Monday January 9 in a common press release . The two French groups also explain that “Canal+ will become at the end of this transaction the sole shareholder of the two companies”, OCS and Orange Studio.
#Accord🤝
The Canal+ and Orange group are pleased to announce that they have concluded a memorandum of understanding for AC… https://t.co/9cjeihhdfi from/p>- canalplusgroup (@canal+ group)
The amount of the transaction is not specified. But, according to The economic daily Les Echos, “Once is not custom, 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 “indebted and losses”. This sum “would be less than 100 million euros and above all would not take the form of a dry check at Canal+”, say the Les Echos. According to the newspaper, this agreement closes a “almost two-year negotiation”.
“Orange will be brought to endure the negative cash flows [when more money leaves the company it comes in] future”, continues the newspaper, according to which “the operator has been committed to pay minimals guaranteed to Canal+ over three to four years “. “OCS, billed at 11 euros per month alone, has accumulated between 400 million and 500 million euros in losses since its launch, according to our information,” added Les Echos.
At present, Canal+ is the main distributor of OCS and has a participation of 33.34 %, which gave it a right of preemption. From the 1 January, OCS has lost one of its major content, the emblematic series of the American chain HBO, like Game of Thrones or the Soprano. 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.
strong “competition in the audiovisual sector “
In the press release, Orange raises the strong “competition in the audiovisual sector”, which “has continued to intensify” for OCS “with the emergence of powerful international platforms”, like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+. Orange’s objectives with this transaction were to “perpetuate the development” of OCS and Orange Studio, “while preserving jobs and pre-financing of creation”, that is to say the financing obligations Cinema, according to the press release. Still according to Les Les Echos, “Canal+ would have committed to taking over the entire hundreds of OCS employees”.
“First movie and television studio in Europe, Studiocanal [the audiovisual production subsidiary of Canal+] has many advantages to radiate the catalog of Orange Studio”, underline the two groups in their press release. Orange Studio “has more than 200 co-productions to his credit as well as a catalog of nearly 1,800 audiovisual and cinematographic works including Oscar-winning and emblematic films like The Artist or The Father”, they said.
With this sale, Orange abandons content creation and becomes a simple distributor again via its television offers. In office since last April, the new director general of Orange, Christel Heydemann, will present on February 16 the next strategic plan of the group for 2030, in the wake of the publication of the results of the year 2022.