The chairman and CEO of Canal Plus Group has denied the French paycaster is planning a relaunch for CanalPlay.
Les Echos reported CanalPlay would be revamped in the spring as a 10-euro-a-month subscription video service for young people.
But Maxime Saada wrote on Twitter that while there was much within the article that was correct there would be no return for CanalPlay.
.@LesEchos Beaucoup de choses exactes dans cet article mais une chose inexacte et d’importance : il n’y aura pas de relance de @canalplay mais nombreuses idées à l’étude chez @canalplus dont une déjà évoquée par @Satellifax avant les fêtes https://t.co/nXIXI1fTw8
— Maxime Saada (@maxsaada) January 10, 2019
Canal has not been promoting its video service, instead concentrating its efforts on the newer MyCanal.
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Culture last June, Saada blamed a regulatory environment for preventing an exclusive deal with Netflix or Amazon that in turn had led to a collapse in subscriber numbers for CanalPlay from 800,000 to 200,000 over two years.
Saada also criticised the authority for previously preventing it from carrying exclusive content while paying taxes and employing thousands of people in France – while Netflix had no such burdens.
