Paramount Group’s Paramount+ streaming service and France’s Canal+ Group on Wednesday unveiled an expansion and strengthening of their partnership in France after the streamer launched via the pay-TV giant in the country in 2022.
“This strategic collaboration aims to expand the distribution of Paramount+ and its premium content in France, enriching the value proposition of Canal+ subscribers,” the companies said.
Under the updated deal, Canal+ subscribers can access Paramount+ at no additional cost, no matter which subscription plan they have, starting immediately. “As part of the extended agreement, all Paramount+ content is now accessible directly on myCanal and [the] Canal+ universe on its decoders and all partners’ set-top boxes,” the partners said.
As part of an extension, the Canal+ Group can also continue the distribution of all of Paramount’s pay TV channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon, the Paramount Channel, and Comedy Central, and continue to exclusively acquire premium content for its channels and services, including Paramount Pictures films premiering on Canal+ six months after their theatrical release in France and at least two Showtime series per year.
Among the Paramount+ content covered by the deal are such originals as the upcoming Taylor Sheridan series Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, Demi Moore and Jon Hamm, Tulsa King, Lioness, Star Trek, and such acquisitions as The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2. Paramount+ also offers movies like Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, among others.
“We are delighted to reinforce and expand our already robust relationship with Canal+, one of our key international partners,” said Marco Nobili, executive vp and international general manager, Paramount+. “This new partnership broadens the reach of Paramount+ to all Canal+ direct-to-consumer subscribers, enabling us to more than double our market penetration via Canal+ Group’s platforms, solidifying our position as the fourth-largest service in France, reaching more than 15 percent of homes in France,” according to Omdia, Advanced TV, and NPA Conseil-Harris Interactive.
Concluded Nobili: “This renewed agreement also expands our collaborations across various business areas, including linear distribution and licensing, while we prepare for future streaming growth with the launch of the Paramount+ advertising tier in France.”
Added Pascale Chabert, director of content acquisitions, main partners at Canal+ Group: “We have just reached a new milestone in the historic partnership of more than 30 years between Paramount and Canal+.”
She concluded: “Paramount is the most emblematic studio in Hollywood and Paramount+ is one of the main platforms in the market. This expanded partnership constitutes another step in the Canal+ Group’s desire to aggregate the best content and applications in the market.”
French media and telecom giant Vivendi is currently considering a London stock market listing for its Canal+ business as part of a split into several companies to reduce its conglomerate discount.
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