Altice will create a movie channel and a offers satellite – Echoes

Altice attack Channel+ on all fronts. The telecom operator enriches its bouquet of 8 new channels, bringing the total to 20. But it also plans to launch a new offer satellite, the first half of 2017, to cover all the territory, entering therefore in competition with CanalSat. And also an offer OTT.

A premium channel series and movies

so much that in this new bouquet, one of the strings looks a lot like Canal+ Cinema. This chain, likely to be launched in the spring or summer, will be entirely dedicated to cinema and series. “ This will be a premium channel, intended to disseminate blockbusters “, stresses Alain Weill, director general of SFR-Media. The group has entered into an agreement with the american NBCUniversal for access to its catalog, including its franchises in hollywood widely known as the ” Jason Bourne “, “Fast & Furious” or ” Me, ugly and nasty “, which will add its own productions. Altice has, in effect, created a studio a few months ago.

Building on entertainment

More generally Altice, who was very present on the information and the sport – it has, among other BFMTV or the English Premier League on SFR Sport – has announced an increase in the entertainment sector, through two agreements at one time with NBC and Discovery Communications. the ” It is a step in strong for the group, which demonstrates our commitment to develop our content strategy. Our belief is that the telecom business will become a “commodity” (basic service, editor’s NOTE). It is the content that will make the difference “ resumes Alain Weill.

In the detail, Altice will ensure the distribution “exclusive” of the three channels, NBC in France : 13ème Rue (series thrillers and police), Syfy (science fiction and fantasy), and E ! (the string of the pop culture dedicated to the celebrities), 2017, when the contracts with the current operators will terminate.In clear, CanalSat distribute, therefore, the more these channels.

4 channels Discovery

The second agreement, announced also on Wednesday, with Discovery Communications (” Les Echos ” of 18/11) also plans to launch two new channels in France. First of all, Discovery, Investigation, and chain of mystery, investigation and suspense, arrived in France on December 15 Altice, after having been proposed in many countries, including the United States. Then, Discovery Family, a family offering, will be starting from the summer of 2017. At the same time, Altice will distribute the Discovery Channel(channel documentary), as well as Discovery Science. They will be available to SFR customers in mid December, and then exclusively from January, when the contract with CanalSat will be completed.

Altice has not given any indication of price. Sources of market, it would pay about 30 million euros, for the agreement with Discovery and would try to share some exclusives with other actors. In total, Altice needs to spend about 3 billion euros in the content at a global level.