Vivendi’s Canal Plus unit is lining up a bid for a stake in the Lions Gate, the studio owned by the US channel Starz.
The studio, known for series including Outlander and American Gods is known to be open for a sale of all or part of the company following comments last year by vice-chair Michael Burns.
The FT, which first reported the story, said Canal is seeking to bulk up amid fierce competition among streaming services.
Starz has also attracted interest from streaming platform Roku.
Having sold most of its holding in Universal Music Group, Canal is now first and centre of Vincent Bolloré’s business. In recent months it has acquired a 70% stake in content business SPI International and launched a new streaming service in Austria.
Starz, which sits alongside HBO and Showtime has around 20 million subscribers, 4 million short of the total held by Canal.