Orange ‘would consider’ buying Canal+

Stéphane Richard

Telco and pay TV operator Orange would consider buying Canal+ if Vivendi put it up for sale its CEO has said.

Speaking to reporters at the fringes of an industry event being held in Morocco, Orange CEO Stephane Richard said: “If Canal Plus were up for sale tomorrow, Orange would definitely look into it. Obviously,” Reuters reported.

Canal+ is struggling in its domestic French market in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Orange and Altice. The latter trumped Canal+ for a raft of NBCUniversal and Discovery channels this week, dealing it a blow.

On the OTT front, Netflix also presents a cord-cutting threat in France. Canal+’s international operations, meanwhile, are performing strongly.

In February, Vivendi publicly stated that it “cannot on a long-term basis continue to finance the losses of Canal+ channels in France” following four years of losses.

Subs and revenue declines continued in the pay TV operator’s most recent results. It now has about 5.4 million subs in France.