French broadcaster Canal+ has unveiled ‘the new Canal+’, as well as new names for its three free-to-air channels D8, D17 and iTélé.
In a move to improve results for the broadcasting group, Canal+, the main premium channel will cut down on the number of ‘open window’ programmes, which it broadcasts unencrypted, to just two hours a day. To offer its paying subscribers more value for their money, Canal+ promises “more sports, more movies and more series”. The channel has been losing subscribers at an alarming rate and one of the measures now taken is to reduce broadcasting in the clear.
The broadcaster’s loss-making 24/7 news channel iTélé will now be known as C News, general entertainment channel D8 will continue as C8, and music channel D17 as CStar. Canal+ claims that C8 is the third best watched private channel in the country, while CStar is the number one general music channel in the country.
Just last week, Maxime Saada, general manager at Canal+ said that the channel lost 500,000 paying subscribers since 2012, and that the number was expected to decline below four million before the end of 2016. Losses at the group are expected to run as high as EUR400 million in 2016, and EUR416 million in 2017, if no measures are taken. The total debt of the Canal+ group has now reached one billion euros.
