Battle heats up between Orange and Canal +
Stationed on either side of the Cannes, Festival Palace Canal + and Orange have been engaged in an increasingly open war since last week.
After last year’s launch of Studio 37 – a co-production and film rights sales company – Orange (subsidiary of the France Télécom group) are starting to encroach more and more obviously on the territory of Canal +, the major financer of French film (€160m in pre-sales in 2007 for 140 features).
Riding on the ADSL boom, last month Orange announced the launch for autumn 2008 of six film and TV series channels for their television, Internet and mobile customers. Moreover, the operator has signed contracts with Warner, HBO, Gaumont and Fidélité Films.
At Cannes, Orange have also snapped up the pay-TV broadcast rights for Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs à tire-larigot (“Playing Games to your Heart’s Content”, starring Dany Boon) and Mathieu Kassovitz’s forthcoming feature L’ordre et la morale (“Order and Morality”).
In an interview published yesterday in daily newspaper Le Monde, the director general of Studio 37, Frédérique Dumas, added fuel to the flames. She said: "Since the announcement of the creation of Orange’s film channels, numerous producers have told us that Canal+ have tried to persuade them not to do business with us."
By thus bringing out into the open a dispute that has long been waging behind the scenes, Orange – who had for the time being favoured diplomatic talks – are clearly demonstrating their convictions. This is a matter to follow closely, as it could have rapid consequences for the economics of the French film industry as a whole.
(Translated from French)
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