Vivendi has warned that it cannot continue to finance the six loss-making Canal+ channels in France.
It says the company has already invested €1.5 billion in Canal+ in France.
In its 2015 financial statements the media giant has replaced its often identical statements on the French pay platform with a dire wanting on the company’s future. “This situation threatens the entire Canal+ Group, which employs 8,200 people and is a major player in the financing and development of the movie industry, in which it invests globally close to €800 million both in France and internationally.”
Canal+ has been losing money for the last four years; Vivendi says that since 2012 the subscriber base has been severely eroded. It’s understood 218,000 subscribers have been lost in the last six months of 2015 alone. The channels recorded a negative EBITA of €264 million in 2015, a €76 million loss increase compared to 2014.
So while Canal is able to report an increase of 400,000 subscribers over the year to 15.7 million subscriptions, the success of Africa has been masking troubles in the domestic market.
The channels recorded a negative EBITA of €264 million in 2015, a €76 million loss increase compared to 2014.
Vivendi is blaming the arrival of new national and international players in sport and fiction that have led to an increase in the number of competing offers.
Already agreement has been reached between Canal and hitherto rival BeIN Sports.
The priority is for the new management team announced last summer to implement a major transformation plan in order to return to break-even. Vivendi says perceived subscriber value should be restored by increasing investment in original content production and premium content as well as by improving significantly the user experience.
