Canal+ inks international Disney deal

François Deplanck

Canal+ has inked a deal with Disney and will get first and second window rights to several of the studio’s series and movies for its international service. The deal with The Walt Disney Company also sees a raft of Disney channels carried on Canal+’s Overseas service.

The content element of the two-part agreement covers all Disney, Lucas Film, Marvel Studios and Pixar films on the Canal+ platform in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa. The deal also includes features from Japan’s Studio Ghibli, which are distributed by Disney internationally.

The deal kicks in this month and includes new Star Wars film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It also gives Canal+ rights to classic Disney Studios titles including The Jungle Book.

TV series included in the deal include comedy series Blackish, which is on ABC in the US and will launch in Canal+ in early 2017.

The channels component of the Disney-Canal+ deal will see all of four Disney channels – Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior And Disney Cinema – carried on the Canal+ Overseas platform.

The Overseas service, which unlike the core French Canal+ operation is growing healthily, is carried in 25 countries inFrench-speaking Africa, and has about two million subs.

“We are delighted with this agreement which allows us to offer our African subscribers the excellent productions of Disney studios and major youth channels for all ages,” said François Deplanck, director of channels and content at Canal+ Overseas.

“The match between our family audiences and the content developed by Disney makes this an ideal partnership.”

“We are delighted that two million subscribers in Africa are discovering or rediscovering the great Disney, Pixar, Marvel or Star Wars movies and now have access to all of our Disney channels,” added Jean-François Camilleri, country manager The Walt Disney Company for France, Belgium, Holland, Maghreb and Francophone Africa.