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August 30, 2006
France Approves Canalsat-TPS Merger
The Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry (MINEFI) approved the merger of French DTH providers Canalsat and TPS on August 30. Kagan has identified France as a hyper-competitive multichannel market and DTH consolidation will help the platform maintain competitive viability in the face of digital cable, IPTV and pay-DTT offerings.
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Following the merger, Canalsat viewers will gain access to M6, TF1 and TPS Star, while TPS viewers add the Canal Plus Le Bouquet.
The move will consolidate 52% of French pay TV subscribers under the single platform controlled 65% by Vivendi, 20% by Lagardère Group, 9.9% by TFI and 5.1% by M6.
To receive MINEFI approval, the companies had to satisfy nearly 60 pre-merger requirements regarding channel availability and content rights. Many of these requirements will enable competing platforms to access programming, thereby fueling the hyper-competitive fires.
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Posted by Kagan Global Research Team at August 30, 2006 10:10 AM