Sports channel beIN Sports has been linked with a possible acquisition by Canal Plus, French broadcaster Europe1 has reported.
The move would bolster Canal’s sports rights and increase its subscriber base by a healthy 3.5 million.
It’s understood that Canal+ Group would like to finalise the deal before the summer.
Canal has struggled with subscriber erosion in recent months and a tie up with beIN would go some way towards addressing this. However, both have lost a substantial chunk of coverage of the French Football under last May’s deal with Mediapro.
In June 2016, the Autorité de la Concurrence barred Canal from an exclusive distribution agreement with beIN Sports.
A spokesman for Canal’s parent Vivendi declined to comment.
