The encrypted channel Canal+ is in exclusive talks to acquire OCS, the second largest pay-TV service in France.
While French content group Vivendi, the parent company of Canal+, already owns 33.3% of OCS, Orange’s pay TV arm, and distributes the service on its platform as part of its 2011 cable package, a full takeover is being discussed. within a few weeks as the end of the HBO contract approaches and the announcement of a long-term partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Prime Video. The acquisition is expected to bring together OCS and Orange Studio, Orange’s film, television and pay TV divisions.
Canal+ enters exclusive talks to acquire France’s second largest pay TV group OCS https://t.co/BODOhdRLRM
— Variety (@Variety) November 17, 2022
While Canal+ has pledged to keep the OCS staff, some executives fear that OCS and Orange Studio will suffer the same fate as TPS, another pay-TV group bought by Canal+ in 2007 and bankrupt five years later.
Canal+ wants to compete with streaming giants with OCS
The deal will be approved by the antimonopoly authorities. In 2011, the antitrust commission blocked Canal+’s attempt to merge with OCS to launch a premium pay-TV channel, but that was before the French market changed with the advent of streaming services. Netflix alone has over 13 million subscribers in France, ahead of Canal+ with 9.6 million local subscribers and OCS with 2.9 million subscribers.
Financial condition of OCS does not look good
For reference, OCS, launched in 2008, is the second pay TV group in France after Canal+. It was initially viewed as a competitor to Canal+ as it invested heavily in premium content to attract subscribers. His costly multi-year deal with HBO kept OCS up and running for several years, but the pay-TV group never managed to become financially viable.