M7 Group (legally Canal+ Luxembourg S.à.r.l.) is a Luxembourg-based television provider which operates several

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

platforms: HD Austria in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, Télésat in Belgium and Luxembourg, TV Vlaanderen in the

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

region in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, Skylink in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, Canal Digitaal in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Focus Sat Focus Sat is a direct broadcast satellite television platform owned by M7 Group (Canal+ Luxembourg S.a.r.l.), a subsidiary of Canal+ Group, in Romania. At the beginning, Focus Sat Romania was owned by the majority shareholder Focus Sat Limited ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, and Direct One in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. It also operates a terrestrial pay television platform in Flanders, Belgium and offers B2B multimedia services.

History

The private equity firm Astorg acquired a majority of the company in July 2014 for €350 million via its Fund V from Providence and Airbridge Investments. Providence is a Private Equity investment firm and Airbridge Investments is the holding company of executives Hans Wolfert and Cees Bohnenn. In December 2017 the company became fully owned by Astorg. The exit of minority shareholders took place at the time of a €570 million debt refinancing which allowed to pay a dividend of €175 million to the former shareholders. On 30 July 2014, its subsidiary M7 Deutschland bought the German B2B satellite platform Kabelkiosk from

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellite ...

. In 2016 M7 Group closed the Hungarian satellite platform Hello HD. In December 2018 the company announced the purchase of

Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

's satellite operations located in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania for €180 million. This sale was prcoesed after necessary permissions, in spring 2019. Freesat platform acquired in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been integrated into Skylink. On May 28, 2019, it announced that Vivendi's Canal+ Group will take over M7 Group for 1.1 billion euros. The sale was effectuated on 12 September 2019 after the European Commission gave its permission. M7 Group announced that Diveo, the German satellite platform which was launched in February 2018, will be closed on 30 November 2019. In July 2020, M7 Group S.A. merged with UPC DTH S.à.r.l. and changed its official name into Canal+ Luxembourg S.à.r.l. The M7 brand name remains in use with the "A Canal+ Group company" tagline.

References

External links

* {{Television in Belgium Direct broadcast satellite services Groupe Canal+ Television in Austria Television in Belgium Television in the Czech Republic Television in Hungary Television in the Netherlands Television in Romania Television in Slovakia Television in Germany 2019 mergers and acquisitions