As we know, Canal+ has been looking for a way for several years to strengthen its position in the pay-TV and streaming market against the big names of the genre like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.
We are particularly aware that since July 2022 the Canal+ group has been in talks with Orange to purchase the operator’s cinema, television and premium television divisions. This specifically includes Orange Studioa well-known manufacturing and distribution company, also OCS service. It is worth saying that the operator has been trying to get rid of OCS and sell its stake in the streaming platform since January 2022.
However, the encrypted string, which currently owns 33.3% of OCShad the pre-emptive right over the acquisition and intended to assert it. According to our colleagues on the site Variationalready at the source of the first revelations in this file,The Canal+ group has entered the final phase of negotiations with Orange to acquire Orange Studio and OCS..
Also read: Canal+ finally resumes broadcasting TF1 group channels
Canal+ acquires OCS and Orange Studio
OCS employees were only informed that an agreement with Canal+ was being negotiated. Of course, the deal will first have to pass through the competition authority. Note that in 2011, the Vivendi-owned group was already trying to buy OCS in vain. At the time, the competition authority had vetoed it, fearing that this takeover would allow Canal to assume a strong position.
But since then, water has flowed under the bridge and, above all, we have seen the emergence of heavyweights flowing. Netflix and its 13 million subscribers in France. According to the variety, Canal+ would undertake to maintain the company’s workforce. Regardless, the current leaders of OCS and Orange Studio have expressed concern that they will suffer the same fate as TPS, a TV group that was acquired by Canal+ in 2007 and went bankrupt 5 years later.
However, it should be noted that Canal+ wants to take over a service that is in bad shape, in this case OCS. In the effect, OCS offers losses between 400 and 500 million euros Since its launch in 2008, Orange has also requested debt absorption of up to 150 million in previous negotiations. In addition, OCS will lose its exclusive distribution agreement for HBO programs from January 2023. Indeed, the TV series and movies of the American channel, Warner Bros. It will join the catalog of the future streaming service launched by discovery.
