Canal+ S.A.
Canal+ S.A., formerly Groupe Canal+, is a French media and telecommunications conglomerate based in Paris. It runs its own eponymous over-the-top subscription video on-demand service, subscription TV channels in France, distributes third-party channels and services, and is a major source of finance for domestic film production, participating in the financing of the vast majority of films produced in France. Canal+ was a subsidiary of the French conglomerate Vivendi until 9 December 2024. Since then, the conglomerate has remained 30.4% controlled by the French Bolloré family through the holding company Bolloré.
As part of the spin-off from Vivendi, Groupe Canal+ became the independent entity Canal+ S.A. on 9 December, with a view to listing on the London Stock Exchange on 16 December 2024.
The conglomerate also has its own subsidiary companies with direct involvement in film production and distribution, such as StudioCanal. Apart from extensive operations in mainland France, the company owns many subsidiaries and operates in countries across Europe, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and in French Overseas Territories.
History
Subscription channel and production company (1984)
The subscription channel Canal+ was launched in November 1984, when there were only three government-owned channels available in France. The company was co-founded by André Rousselet, president of the French multinational advertising company Havas, and Pierre Lescure, which proved very popular with media professionals and politicians. There were 186,000 subscribers, who committed to paying 140 francs per month for the service.joined in 1986, joining his longtime friend Pierre Lescure. De Greef was first appointed director of production, then head of programmes, and finally as director general. De Greef was later described as a pioneer and visionary, who set the tone and created the "Canal Plus spirit", which embodied anti-conformism along with edgy satire that became very popular. He created the satirical puppet show Les Guignols de l'Info and cult talk shows Nulle part ailleurs, Groland, and Les Deschiens.
The new channel got off to a slow start, and some politicians, including prime minister Laurent Fabius, railed against the idea of having a commercial TV channel. However, Rousselet was a personal friend of the president, François Mitterrand, and so obtained favourable terms for the setup. Pierre Lescure was director-general at that time. A combination of political connections and clever programming – giving the French public American hit comedies and French drama not available on the government channels – worked and subscriptions soon increased. Government regulations required that the channel give several hours of free programming each day, which was used by Canal+ to promote the subscription service.
The channel initially had to use 45% of its air-time on films, until the film industry pushed back. Sports, interview shows, documentaries, and soft pornography joined films as the main staples of programming at this time. In 1985, the government opened up the market to other private commercial television stations, offering some serious competition. However, aggressive marketing and policies ensured that the company kept growing. By 1989, Canal+ had almost three million subscribers. Around this time the company expanded into some European markets, notably Belgium, Spain, and Germany, where in partnership with Bertelsmann and the Kirch Group, the first national pay TV service, Premiere TV, was established. With its expansion into Africa in 1990 with Canal+ Horizons, Canal+ was not only the most successful subscription channel in Europe, but also second only to HBO globally.
In the mid-1980s, Canal+ started acquiring rights to American TV shows and blockbusters, but buying rights from Hollywood was expensive, so the company moved into producing its own films. On 1 January 1987, Canal+ Productions was founded as a cinema film co-production subsidiary of the cable channel, which later partnered with Universal Pictures to co-produce films.
On 1 March 1987, another subsidiary, Ellipse Programs, was established, with the aim of producing television works intended for all broadcasters, which would promote Canal+ producers' talent. On 18 April 1990, Canal+ Horizons was created to export Canal+ content to countries on the African continent. Also in 1987, Canal+ went public.
By December 1990, Canal+ Productions rebranded to Le Studio Canal+, and released its first film, The Double Life of Veronique, by Krzysztof Kieslowski. By the early 1990s, it became apparent that Canal+ was a major contributor to the French film industry, with its obligation to spend 10% of its income on French-made films, as well as being Europe's largest buyer of American film rights. Canal+ also made investments in other companies. In 1991, it bought a five percent stake in the independent American studio Carolco Pictures. However, in 1992, Studio Canal+ suffered financial difficulties after Carolco entered a corporate restructure.
Satellite broadcasting (1992)
On 6 December 1991, CanalSatellite was created. Canal+ started began satellite broadcasting in 1992, to reach parts of France not covered by cable. Digital satellite provider CanalSatellite was launched as a wholly owned subsidiary of Canal+ on 6 December 1991. On 27 April 1996, Canal+ received two new sister channels: Canal+ Jaune and Canal+ Bleu. In 1999, Canal+ partnered with Vivendi to create V-Net. During the 1990s it also expanded further into Europe and the UK, with BSkyB and TVS. Later it bought up NetHold in the Netherlands, and took majority control of France's NC Numericable.In 1994, Rousselet quit the board, and was replaced by director-general Lescure.
In January 1996, Le Studio Canal+ acquired the bankrupted Carolco Pictures' library for $56 million, making its first foray into library acquisitions. It also bought up a film library from UGC DA.
On 27 April 1996, CanalSatellite launched as a digital satellite platform, with 24 channels and interactive services. CANAL+ became available on two additional channels, Canal+ Jaune and Canal+ Bleu, later named Canal+ Cinema and Canal+ Confort.
On 1 December 1998, all film, television, music, video production activities, etc. were grouped into a new entity, Canal+ Image, which was rebranded as StudioCanal in 2000. On 1 December 1999, a new subsidiary, Canal+ Technologies, was created, to develop and market its access control and interactivity technology.
21st century
In January 2000, it was announced that French arms and media conglomerate Lagardère Group had purchased a major stake in the digital television division, taking 34 percent of CanalSatellite and nearly 27.5 percent of MultiThematiques, for a price of more than million. Lagardère acquired the 30.2% MultiThematiques stake then held by Vivendi. In February 2000, Canal+ announced the merger of its Ellipse Programme TV production company into the programming provider Expand. The company continued to grow as it moved into Internet and multi-access content markets. On 15 June 2001, it took over control of Expand, leading producer of French audiovisual content.On 9 December 2000, Vivendi acquired Canal+. On 11 December 2000, Vivendi Universal was created from the merger of Canal+, Seagram, and Vivendi. Groupe Canal+, made up of Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ Régie, and the Canal+ channel, was then wholly owned by Vivendi Universal. Legislation required that the channel was held at 49%.
From 2000 to 2002, Virginie Calmels successively held three positions: chief financial officer, deputy CEO, and then joint chief operating officer of the group. In 2001, co-founder Alain De Greef was fired from his position as director-general and replaced by Michel Denisot, when the organisation was restructured under the leadership of Jean-Marie Messier, chief executive of Vivendi. Criticism of Vivendi's poor share performance since the takeover grew, and in April 2002, De Greef's co-founder and CEO Pierre Lescure, clashed with Messier and was fired.
In July 2003, Canal+ through its division StudioExpand announced that they've sold their animation production division Ellipse Animation to media entertainment conglomerate Média-Participations and had placed the acquired animation production subsidiary under their French-Belgian publishing arm Dargaud.
In June 2004 following their sellout of Ellipsanime to Dargaud one year prior, Canal+ Group through StudioExpand announced sold their remaining assets which were Adventure Line Productions who was sold to Tele Images Group, DMD Productions, Calt and KM Production which was sold back to their founders and Starling was sold to American television production and distribution studio Sony Pictures Television.
On 23 May 2005, CanalSatellite was renamed Canalsat.
An alternative Canal+ logo was used between 2006 and 2009.
On 7 December 2010, all Canal+ channels, plus the 90 CanalSat channels, became available live on Microsoft's Xbox 360.
In December 2013, Canal+ announced that they are creating CanalStart, a new structure to support young entrepreneurs' media and new technology initiatives and projects in the form of a financial investment or contracts awarded by Canal+. CanalStart presented at SXSW 2014. In April 2015, CanalStart announced a first commercial partnership with Wildmoka, a start-up specialising in the design of enriched television services, after it won MIPLab 2015, a global B2B startup competition in TV and online video. The company was removed from the companies register on 29 November 2016.
In September 2015, Vincent Bolloré, chairman of parent company Vivendi, was appointed as chairman of Canal Plus. He changed several former executives and aligned Canal+'s operations with Vivendi's.
In May 2019, Groupe Canal+ announced that they've acquires Luxembourg-based French television provider M7 Group who operated pay-TV platforms in Benelux and Central Europe for more than $1.1 billion, thrus expanding Groupe Canal+'s operations into the Benelux and Central Europe territories. The M7 Group acquisition marks Groupe Canal+'s return to the Netherlands country with Canal Digitaal being brought back to their original parent Groupe Canal+.
Canal+ signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Disney in December 2019, ahead of Disney+ launch in France on 31 March 2020. The company would continue to have exclusive rights to Disney content, and would also be the only distributor of Disney channels in France. It would also retain its distribution of National Geographic, Voyage, and Fox Play channels.
Canal+ S.A. started trading at London Stock Exchange after its spin-off from Vivendi on 16 December 2024, the shares were trading at 242 pence on that day, down 16% on the opening price of 290 pence.