Canal+ to buy Bollore Group's TV business
Canal+ is to buy a 60% stake in Bollore Group's TV business, with the opportunity to buy the remaining 40%, in a €465million (£404million) deal.
The Vivendi pay-TV operator will originally pay €279million in Vivendi shares for 60% of the Bollore Group's TV business, and will then have an option in three years to buy the remaining 40% stake for €186million in cash.
Taking over Bollore's channels will mean Vivendi will own more than the maximum seven terrestrial frequencies that French law allows, with the head of Canal+, Bertrand Meheut, admitting that it may have to return a few frequency bands.
Meheut told the Guardian: "This partnership is intended to prepare the Canal+ Group for the arrival in the television sector of new operators such as Apple, Netflix, Google, etc.
"The company's entry into the free television market will enable it to strengthen its capacity to produce distinctive content and enhance its editorial lines with high-quality programmes, while using all available operating media to exploit those programmes."