Canal+ is to establish its own children’s channel this autumn to be called Canal+ Family. Confirming the launch managing director Rodolphe Belmer told the French daily Liberation that the channel would be similar to Ca Cartoon, which serves 7-13 year olds, but with a remit to serve the whole family. “’Canal+ is more of a masculine channel and we’re trying to feminise it. We’ve realised that few households with children subscribe to Canal+, which is why we’ve decided to launch this channel,” he said.
However, the collapse in carriage fee negotiations between the CanalSat DTH platform and Jetix should not go unnoticed. Disney Channel is launching Cinemagic on CanalSat in September and an HD channel is also mooted.