Canal+ was a Spanish
satellite broadcasting
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.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
platform. It was previously known as Digital+ since its launch in 2003, and from 2011 it was known as Canal+, being named after its main premium channel.
Formed on 23 July 2003 as a result of the equal merger of Via Digital (owned by
Telefónica
, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...
) and ''Canal Satélite Digital'' (owned by
Sociedad de Television Canal Plus, S.A.), it was the largest
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 ...
broadcaster in Spain.
The company used to be a subdivision of
Sogecable (renamed Prisa TV in 2010) with shares held by
Mediaset España
Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.U. (formerly Gestevisión Telecinco, S.A. and Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.) is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian-based company MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., which i ...
and
Telefónica
, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...
. In October 2011, Digital+ changed its name to Canal+.
History
Merging to Vía Digital
Before the creation of Digital+, there were two pay-TV companies in Spain: Vía Digital, owned by
Telefónica
, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...
and which operated through
Hispasat, and Canal Satélite Digital, property of Sogecable, which used
Astra for their services.
The economic loss of both them in the early years and Telefónica's none investment in its division motivated the fusion process between them for merging, apart from the government. The process finished on 8 May 2002. The agreement closed the acquisition of Vía Digital by Sogecable, carrying out a capital increase in 23% for Vía Digital shareholders. The resultant company would take in 2.5 million subscribers.
However, the agreement was subject to CNMC intervention. After several months of consideration, on 28 August 2002 CNMC published a report in which the organization recognized that the existence of both satellite companies was unviable, but it warned of fusion's danger to free competition, in markets like movies and sports broadcasting, as well as in pay-TV channels production.
On 13 November CNMC Defense Court sent the definitive report to the government, containing 10 conditions, including PPV's cession to cable companies, and limitations in football clubs rights contracts renewals. Days later, on 29 November, Ministers Council approved the fusion, with an increase to 34 conditions (24 more ones than CNMC requested).
These requirements did not satisfy anyone: companies involved in integration of the two companies (Sogecable, Vía Digital and Telefónica) as well as affected business because of it, such as
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...
, Mediapark (Teuve), cable companies joined in
ONO and AOC throughout Auna had brought administrative appeals before
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
.
Even though, the merger followed its process and on 21 July 2003 the new resultant pay-TV company was born in Astra and Hispasat: Digital+. But business’ creation was controversial, because of cable companies and private TV channels that stated some of the conditions weren't achieved, like increasing packages prices instead of maintaining them as it should have, or not fulfilling 20% of independent production companies’ contents.
In October 2007, it began providing Canal+ România, a specialized package for
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n immigrants, which included Pro TV International.
Digital+'s broadcasts stayed encrypted in both encryption systems used by Canal Satélite Digital and Vía Digital. The first one is SECA Mediaguard, used in the Astra satellite, currently in its second version. The second one is
Nagravisión, in its third version since 4 December 2007.
Strategy changes
On 1 February 2008 Digital+ started broadcasting in
high definition with Canal+ HD launch. It initially would offer repeated HD contents from Canal+, but since 9 December 2008 transmitted the same programming of Canal+ in
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
, offering in HD all contents that were available to broadcast in this quality. Canal+ Deportes HD and Canal+ DCine HD were launched that day too.
In September 2008, Prisa published on its newspaper
El País
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
that the business had received several offers to buy its pay-TV company, as a part of a corporate reorganization Prisa planned to make. Among the business interested in buying out Digital+, there were
Telefónica
, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...
,
Vivendi
Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...
,
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...
,
British Sky Broadcasting
Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...
and
ONO.
On 22 July 2009 the group presented its new channel called
Canal+ Liga, direct opponent to
Mediapro
Mediaproducción, S.L.U., better known as Mediapro, is a multimedia communications group in Spain founded in April 1994 in Barcelona. The company is well involved in movie and television production.
The company holds branch offices in Madrid, S ...
football channel
Gol Televisión and that would include the same matches as this one. Among these ones, three of them would be from Primera División, always one with
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
or
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
as a player, two from Segunda División, other two from every Copa del Rey season, as well as exclusively
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
encrypted matches. The channel launched on 29 August 2009 with a HD simulcast.
In November 2009,
Telefónica
, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...
acquired Digital+’s 22% with a 240 million euros payment, moreover the debt repayment Prisa owed to give to Telefónica, which was worth in 230 million. The total cost of the operation was 470 million euros. Afterwards, in December,
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...
bought another 22%, as a part of fusion operation of this channel with Sogecable's TV channel Cuatro.
In June 2010, the telecommunications operator
Jazztel
Jazztel is a Spanish telecommunications company which offers triple play services (telephone, Internet and television). In 2018, Jazztel was made to pay fines for their telemarketing tactics.
History
Founded in 1998 by Martin Varsavsky, Jazztel i ...
stopped commercializing its own pay-per-view services on television, to focus its audiovisual offer in agreements and Internet television services. The company signed in the beginning of May an agreement with Digital+ for being able to be commercialized with its telecom offer.
New naming
On 17 October 2011 Digital+ was rebranded as Canal+. Consequently, the premium channel known as Canal+ transformed in Canal+ 1. This change also affected Festival de Series de Digital+, which would be from then Festival de Series de Canal+, and later, Canal+ Series.
Canal+ sale and transformation to Movistar+
In 2013, even though they had previously happened during 2008,
some negotiations about Canal+ sale appeared again. These ones would be more real because of the hurry banks had to solve
Prisa's debt to them.
In June 2014, PRISA accepted
Telefónica
, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...
's offer to own Canal+.
One month later,
Mediaset España
Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.U. (formerly Gestevisión Telecinco, S.A. and Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.) is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian-based company MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., which i ...
would sell its share to Telefónica so it could obtain the 100% of the company. As a result, PRISA and
Mediaset España
Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.U. (formerly Gestevisión Telecinco, S.A. and Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.) is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian-based company MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., which i ...
both sold the Canal+ TV channel, along with the rest of its shares in the Canal+ TV provider, to Telefonica.
On 8 July 2015, Telefónica launched
Movistar+
Movistar Plus+ (formerly Movistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned by , which operates in Spain. The service is distributed via optical fiber and ADSL as well as with satellites such as Astra. The pl ...
, a new platform as a result of the merger of Canal+ and
Movistar TV which involved changes in the packages and new channels like Canal+ Estrenos, which broadcast the newest films, or Canal+ Series Xtra, which had alternative and European shows.
Canal+ 1 disappeared and traditionally named Canal+ was back, although it would not contain premium programming such as premieres of movies, American cable TV series and the exclusive Sunday football match. They all would be transferred to other Canal+ family channels.
Coverage
Canal+ offers its services through
Astra satellites (at
19.2° east) and
Hispasat (30° west).
HbbTv
Canal+ is a supporter of the
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) initiative that is promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface, and has run pilot HbbTV services in Spain.
[David Del Valle]
Spain selects HbbTV standard
''Advanced Television'' November 25, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2012
See also
*
Groupe Canal+
Canal+ S.A., formerly Groupe Canal+, is a French Media conglomerate, media and telecommunications Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Paris. It runs its own Canal+ (streaming service), eponymous Over-the-top media service, over-the-to ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canal (Spanish satellite broadcasting company)
PRISA TV
Television networks in Spain
Direct broadcast satellite services
Telecommunications companies established in 2003
Mass media companies established in 2003
2003 establishments in Spain