Canal+ co-founder launching online TV service

Pierre Lescure and Jean David Blanc

Former Canal+ boss Pierre Lescure and Jean-David Blanc, the founder of AlloCiné, are launching a new online TV service, Molotov.

The seasoned French media executives are pitching Molotov as a ‘Spotify for TV’, as it will aggregate content and make it available via connected devices. The service is currently being beta tested before a commercial launch later this year in France.

Lescure is one of the fouders of Canal+ and Blanc is behind online movie service AlloCiné. Former TF1 exec Jean-Marc Denoual and AlloCiné’s Kevin Kuipers are also part of the management team.

The whole venture is backed by private equity firm Idinvest Partners.

The management team has registered Molotov with French communications regulator the CSA. They claim it will disrupt the whole channels and content distribution sector in France.

In a statement, Molotov’s founders said: “The essence of Molotov is to lead the distribution of TV channels and programmes in a new direction, better reflecting their quality and diversity, and bring traditional television into the Internet era”.

No content deals have been announced. The full launch is expected this autumn, following a summer of testing.