Today Bertrand Meheut, Chairman of the CANAL+ Group, and Stéphane Richard, Chief Executive Officer of Orange, announced a strategic partnership plan to bring the Orange cinema series package and TPS Star together under one joint venture. The business will be owned 50-50 by the two partners and managed by both on a equal basis. The CANAL+ Group will contribute its production skills, while Orange will provide technological expertise to develop interactive and associated transmedia services.

The Orange ciné max and TPS Star channels will merge to create Orange ciné star, a premium channel that will offer exclusive premier programs, primarily movies and TV series. Orange ciné star will maintain Orange ciné max and TPS Star’s production policy, which is based on delivering quality content. The new channel will be distributed through the Orange and CANALSAT networks and will be available to any operator, an approach which will help to acheive financial balance for the joint venture.

the Orange and CANAL+ plan will also
maintain the other four Orange cinema series channels in accordance with the existing production policy while keeping the same names (Orange ciné happy, Orange ciné choc, Orange ciné novo, Orange ciné géants), and should distribute them over their respective networks,
maintain commitments to promote cinematic creation, especially in France   
ensure long-term employment for all Orange production and technical employees involved in the Orange channels

Commenting on the announcement,  Stéphane Richard said, "Today's agreement with CANAL+ is another example of our strategy to build partnerships that will drive the development of content. Our goal is to develop the content created by our production partners and offer our clients innovative products and services by leveraging the power of our networks and the experience we’ve acquired over the last few years. To continue to develop an Orange cinema series package we can be proud of, and continue to make it available to our 494,000 customers, I know we can rely on the incredible knowledge of CANAL+ in producing and marketing premium channels."

For Bertrand Meheut, “This plan combines the unique know-how of two major telecom and television companies and will allow TV viewers to enjoy a quality channel at an attractive price. They will also benefit from additionnal freedom and simplicity in their television choices. This natural partnership with France’s leader in the ADSL market fulfills our multi-platform strategy: make our products available over all broadcast networks. Orange’s ability to innovate technologically is just one more advantage we welcome.”
 
This partnership will be presented to employee representative bodies and submitted for their consultation and for the approval of the governing authorities.



press contacts
Orange                              
Béatrice Mandine + 33 1 44 44 93 93              
Anne-Catherine Moreno +33 1 44 44 93 93
                                               
CANAL+ Group
Laurence Gallot +33 1 71 35 02 22
Antoine Banet-Rivet +33 1 71 35 00 26