Sound+Vision. French company Canal+, owned by Vivendi, has bought pay TV company M7 from its owner, the private equity group Astorg Partners in a deal valued at over €1bn. M7 operates in Benelux and central Europe with a turnover of €4m. Canal+ is aiming to withstand the threat of Netflix which now has 5m French subscribers.The deal has added 3m to subscriber base to take Canal+’s total subscribers to 20m – almost doubled in five years. M7 does not produce content of its own but transmits Disney Channel, HBO, Eurosport, National Geographic and Nickelodeon. Vivendi remains keen to expand into southern Europe despite its (so far) failed co-operation with Mediaset.
Canal+ buys pay TV
