Canal+ could buy OCS in a few days

Canal+ could become the new owner of OCS, which belongs to Orange, in a few days. Indeed, the two groups have been discussing for a while and the negotiations have recently accelerated.

Towards a takeover of OCS by Canal+?

According The echoes, the operator’s management warned OCS and Orange Studio employees that negotiations with Canal+ were accelerating. It seems possible that a transaction will be announced in a few days.

OCS has known good times by being the only French distributor of HBO programs. This has notably made it possible to broadcast series such as Game Of Thrones and its spin-off House of the Dragon. The problem for the group is that Warner Bros, the parent company of HBO, will not renew the agreement which runs until 2023. OCS will therefore lose interest, Warner wanting to launch its own platform in France.

To date, Canal+ holds 34% of OCS and wants to be the main distributor. The group therefore seemed the favorite candidate for an acquisition. It turns out that other actors have shown interest in OCS. But today, Orange seems to want to favor Canal+.

Orange would like to perpetuate the payment of OCS cinema financing obligations, but especially the channels and jobs of OCS, which is already not in good financial health and which will also lose HBO content. The operator led by Christel Heydemann would also be keen to strengthen a French player against American streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+.

For Canal+, which sees the interest of recovering Orange Studio, the constraint is that the seller bears part of the losses linked to the continuation of the channel’s activities. It is from this balance that the price of the transaction will derive. The total balance and debts to be eliminated by Orange for OCS was around between 100 and 150 million euros during negotiations last summer.

At last count, OCS had about 3 million subscribers. The service has accumulated between 400 million and 500 million euros in losses since its launch.