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Studiocanal is heading into a new era. Not only is the Paddington producer coming off the back of a banner year, with its titles having grossed close to $300M at the global box office in 2024 (up 94% year-on-year), but in December its parent company Canal+ made a headline-grabbing debut on the London Stock Exchange after it was spun off from Vincent Bolloré’s French media conglomerate Vivendi.

While the launch was well below the €6.851Bn (£5.71Bn) valuation Vivendi had hoped for – Canal+ floated on the Lse with an initial market value of £2.5Bn ($3.1Bn) – internally, the IPO (which marked the largest debut on the Lse since 2022) is viewed as a promising next step for the company as it continues the growth trajectory it has been on across the last two decades.

In addition to navigating controversial local shifts in media windowing on its home turf, the French film industry’s biggest...

Hit drama series “Rivals,” which debuted to great fanfare on Hulu and Disney+, follows the fortunes of genteel television boss Lord Tony Baddingham (played by David Tennant) as he fights to preserve his independent commercial television station Corinium.

It’s a drama that ITV boss, Dame Carolyn McCall, may well be watching closely. McCall, who has presided over the U.K.’s biggest commercial public service broadcaster (Psb) since 2018, is reportedly weighing up selling the media conglomerate, either in its entirety or piecemeal. The latter would see her spin off production arm ITV Studios — whose hits include, amongst other fare, “Rivals” – to the highest bidder.

Over the weekend, a well-sourced Sky News report suggested that McCall is open to entertaining bids, with a number of potential suitors holding “early-stage discussions” about throwing their hat in the ring. According to the report, these include Cvc Capital Partners and a European broadcaster...

France goes to the polls on Sunday for the second round of a snap parliamentary election in which far right National Rally (Rn) party looks set to come out on top.

With less than 48 hours until the booths open, polls are forecasting Rn is on course to win between 200 to 230 seats in France’s 577-seat National Assembly lower house.

This will not give it an absolute majority but could result in the party’s 28-year-old president Jordan Bardella becoming prime minister with the backing of its leader Marine Le Pen.

Emmanuel Macron, who called the election in response to hefty far right gains in European Parliament elections in mid-June has vowed to stay in place as president until the end of his term in May 2027, although it is not clear what power he will wield if the new government is led by Rn.

The prospect of Rn taking political control...

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation for possibly jumping the gun in Vivendi’s pending acquisition of Lagardère, the French media, publishing and travel retail conglomerate.

Vivendi, which is owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré and is the parent company of pay TV giant Canal+ Group, has a 57.35% stake in Lagardere. The Paris-headquartered company launched an Opa to acquire the remaining stake in Lagardere in 2022. After raising anti-trust concerns, the European Commission eventually gave its support for the acquisition of Lagardere on June 9 on the condition that Vivendi sells its publishing group Editis, as well as its stake in Gala magazine. Vivendi said both deals will be completed by October.

The launch of the E.C. investigation follows the shocking appointment of a new editor-in-chief Geoffroy Lejeune, well known for his far-right views, at Le Journal du Dimanche, a popular mainstream weekly newspaper owned by Lagardere Group. Although...

Updated with Vivendi response. French lawmakers are proposing new legislation aimed at protecting media independence amid growing concerns over big business interference and politicization in the sector in France.

The cross-party initiative has been prompted by an ongoing strike at Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, or Jdd, in protest at a move to install far-right journalist Geoffroy Lejeune as editor, by parent the Lagardère Group, which is currently in the process of being acquired by Vivendi.

The Jdd journalists have rejected Lejeune’s appointment saying his values are out of whack with those of the newspaper. They are also calling for a guarantee of editorial independence.

The industrial action meant the newspaper did not publish for a fifth consecutive week on Sunday (July 24), the longest period it has been absent from newspaper racks in its 75-history.

Lejeune was previously editor of the far-right magazine Valeurs Actuelles and supporter of...

‘My King Charles’ Doc Picked Up Around The World

The My King Charles tell-all documentary has picked up 14 global co-production partners. Blink Films’ doc, which features numerous interviews with those who knew now-King Charles III personally including former girlfriends, close school-friends and relatives, has picked up partners including Channel Nine Australia, Tvnz, Rtl Deutschland and TV2 Denmark, while the documentary will also stream on an unannounced U.S. streaming platform. Distributor Silverlining struck the deals for My King Charles, which is being produced as both one hour and two hour versions. “My King Charles is the first and only profile of Charles told by those close to him, with many of the contributors talking for the first time – from those who shared a classroom to girlfriends, and from lifelong friends and relatives to longstanding personal staff,” said Bethan Corney, the founder and MD of Silverlining. “Together they paint a...

Banijay and North Road Entertainment are keen on to Love Island producer ITV Studios, according to Reuters.

The report suggests private equity-backed studio firms have also looked at the production and sales arm of ITV, which could fetch as much as £3Bn ($3.7Bn).

Reuters cites sources who claim UK network ITV is willing to selling a portion of ITV Studios but is keen to keep control of the business, which has production assets in the UK, Europe, U.S. and Australasia and owns shows such as Love Island, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Life of Duty.

Rumors ITV was open to some sort of sale first emerged in the Ft in October last year, though sources within ITV have consistently played down the idea and it has at times appeared off the market.

The news comes just a day after The North Road Company, which...

Banijay, Stéphane Courbit’s TV production and distribution powerhouse behind “Survivor” and “Peaky Blinders,” is set to go public and enter the stock exchange in Amsterdam through a newly-created special purpose acquisition company or Spac.

Named Fl Entertainment, the listed banner will comprise Banijay and Courbit’s online gambling group Betclic. It will merge with a second Spac called Pegasus Entrepreneurs which was formed by Tikehau Capital and Financière Agache, Lvmh founder Arnault’s investment company, according to the Financial Times. The new banner is also backed by shareholders in Banijay and Betclic, for instance Vincent Bolloré’s Vivendi.

The deal gives Fl Entertainment an enterprise value of €7.2 billion (7.6 billion), or €4.1 billion (4.3 billion) in equity value, according to the Financial Times. The shares will begin trading on Euronext in Amsterdam on July 1.

The strategic move comes roughly two years after Banijay’s €2.2 billion acquisition of Endemol Shine.

Courbit said: “Achieving...

Banijay, a global content production house headquartered in France, is going public.

The company, which is behind shows such as “Survivor,” “The Kardashians,” “Black Mirror” and “MasterChef,” will merge in a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) deal backed by billionaires Bernard Arnault and Vincent Bolloré, according to the Financial Times.

Per Reuters, the deal is reportedly worth upwards of 4 billion.

The deal establishes new company Fl Entertainment, with a value of about 7 billion, a figure that includes debt. It totals out to nearly 4 billion in equity value, according to executive Francois Riahi.

The new company will also include Betclic, an online gambling company.

Banijay acquired Endemol Shine in for 2.2 billion in 2019.

According to reports, current investors in Banijay and Betclic, which include Vivendi, will reinvest in the new company.

Read original story Banijay, French Production House Behind ‘Survivor’ and ‘Black Mirror,’ to Go Public At TheWrap...

Banijay, the company behind series such as Survivor, Peaky Blinders and MasterChef, is going public through an agreement with a Spac investment group.

The deal will see Banijay chairman Stephane Courbit take the company, as well as online sports gambling group Betclic, public through Fl Entertainment. The deal is being backed by investors including Bernard Arnault and Vincent Bolloré.

Fl Entertainment Group will have an enterprise value of €7.2B, or €4.1B in equity value. The shares will begin trading on Euronext in Amsterdam on July 1.

The company said that Fl Entertainment has a “compelling opportunity” as a public company through “both expected growth and the extensive consolidation opportunities for its two businesses.”

Fl Entertainment will merge with Spac Pegasus Entrepreneurs, which is backed by European asset management company Tikehau Capital and investment firm Financière Agache. Existing shareholders including Vivendi have agreed to reinvest in the new company,

Courbit called the...

Vivendi, the parent company of Canal Plus and Universal Music Group (Umg), is planning to acquire an additional 17.93% stake in Lagardere, the French media, publishing and travel retail conglomerate, from its leading shareholder Amber Capital.

The move comes as Vivendi is getting ready to list Umg, its biggest money-making asset and the world’s largest music company, at the Amsterdam stock exchange on Sept. 21.

Vivendi first entered into Lagardere’s capital with a 10.6% stake in April 2020, when the company’s president Arnaud Lagardère, who inherited the illustrious banner from his father, Jean-Luc Lagardère, clashed with Amber Capital and was threatened to be pushed aside.

With Amber Capital’s stake, Vivendi will own 45.1% of Lagardere’s share capital and 36.1% of the voting rights. Amber Capital has accepted Vivendi’s offer to pay €24.10 ($28.3) per share for its 25,305,448 shares.

If approved by regulatory authorities, the transaction would place Vivendi above the 30% share capital...

Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster, and Vivendi, the parent company of Universal Music Group and Canal Plus Group, have reached an agreement to settle their legal spat over their failed pay-tv deal.

Both companies, along with Fininvest, Berlusconi’s holding company, have agreed to waive all ongoing disputes between them. Under the pact, Vivendi will sell its 19.19% stake in Mediaset over a five-year period through a trust called Simon Fiduciaria.

Fininvest will then buy 5% of Vivendi’s stake in Mediaset at an ex-dividend price of €2.70 per share. The agreement will see Vivendi remain a shareholder of Mediaset with a residual 4.61% stake, which it will have the possibility to retain or sell at any time. Mediaset shareholders, meanwhile, will vote on an extraordinary dividend.

Vivendi also stated that it will “support Mediaset’s international development by voting in favor of the transfer of Mediaset’s headquarters to the Netherlands.

Italian prosecutors have indicted Vivendi’s former chairman Vincent Bolloré and current CEO Arnaud De Puyfontaine in a probe over alleged market manipulation stemming from legal wrangling prompted by Vivendi and Mediaset‘s botched 2016 pay-tv deal.

Bollore and De Puyfontaine had been placed under investigation in Milan in 2017 after Mediaset filed a suit claiming they plotted to drive down the company’s share price by premeditating to dishonor their 2016 deal to buy Mediaset’s Mediaset Premium pay-tv unit, and then allegedly used the devaluation caused by the botched deal to raid Mediaset stock.

Under Italian law, an indictment does not imply guilt. Nor does it necessarily mean that Bollore and De Puyfontaine will stand trial.

Vivendi in a statement on Saturday denied wrongdoing, claiming its current and former executives are “either extraneous to those allegations or have acted in full compliance with the law.” The statement added that Bolloré and...

Variety partnered with U.K.-based consultancy Ampere Analysis to delve into the top local and regional ad-supported and pay TV services that are competing with behemoths like Netflix and Amazon. For more, click here.

In France’s competitive market, Ocs, the pay TV service of French telco Orange, has been able to lure more than 3 million subscribers, becoming the country’s biggest local SVOD service.

Netflix, which launched in 2014 in France and now counts almost 8 million subs, has a content library of films and series that’s nearly eight times the size of Ocs’, but that hasn’t quashed the local’s momentum.

Though it’s not yet profitable, the 11-year-old Ocs has kept itself afloat thanks to a well-curated offering of premium content that differs from Netflixtitles. Ocs skews younger than the average French consumer, with more than half its users age 34 or under — and more affluent than Netflix’s subscribers,...

In sealing a $2.2 billion deal to buy Endemol Shine, Banijay Group chairman Stephane Courbit realized a long-held dream to own the producer and distributor of such shows as “Big Brother” and “Peaky Blinders.” But will the merger also pave the way for fulfilling the ambitions of another French media magnate, Vivendi’s Vincent Bolloré?

Vivendi became a minority shareholder in Banijay in 2016 with a 26.2% stake and now owns a 32.9% share. The French media conglomerate will therefore be a significant stakeholder in the new Banijay-Endemol Shine entity, which, if the deal is approved by regulators, will be the world’s largest non-u.S. television producer-distributor, with an expected combined revenue of $3.3 billion in 2019.

Bolloré has long nurtured the ambition of turning Vivendi into an international powerhouse able to compete with U.S. studios. Its ultimately unsuccessful attempt to forge an alliance with Italy’s Mediaset underscored that drive. The question is...

Vincent Bolloré stands on the cusp of becoming the most radical, game-changing force in Europe’s film and TV biz since Rupert Murdoch bet his whole empire on satellite dishes in 1989. The billionaire businessman has always operated as an outsider. Hailing from Brittany, rather than the tight-knit business community of Paris, Bolloré has expanded the family business Bolloré Group—with interests in everything from media to maritime freight and paper manufacturing—into a global player.

He intends to do the same thing with Vivendi, the French media giant Bolloré is chairman of. The creation of no less than the world’s first fully integrated multimedia studio outside the U.S. is the ambition. Film, TV, music and video games all form part of the strategy and—ironically—to disrupt the great disruptors themselves, be they Netflix, Amazon or Google, by creating the leading pan-European Ott platform that stretches across France,...

Canal Plus CEO Rodolphe Belmer has been ousted from his post following a meeting today by the French pay TV giant’s Supervisory Board, on the recommendation of Bertrand Méheut, chairman of Canal Plus’ management board. Belmer will be replaced by Maxime Saada, who joined Canal Plus in 2001 and previously served as EVP of the Canal Plus Group and and head of Pay-tv.

The board also appointed Grégoire Castaing, Canal Plus CFO, to Canal Plus’ management board. It promises to be a summer of change at Canal Plus and its film subsidiary StudioCanal. Parent Vivendi is sitting on a war chest of up to $15 billion following a campaign of asset divestment by billionaire chairman Vincent Bollore that has left the company re-focused on media through its two main assets: Canal Plus and Universal Music Group.

Belmer had worked at Canal Plus for 14 years. He had come under pressure to maintain...

Vivendi chairman Vincent Bollore has upped his stake in the French media giant to 10.2% only days after an activist investor challenged his strategy for the company. Bollore acquired an extra 27.7 million shares for $687 million, and his stake is now double what it was only a few weeks ago.

Bollore is consolidating his grip on Vivendi in advance of an expected showdown next month with activist investor P Schoenfeld Asset Management, which has been calling for Vivendi’s board to sell Universal Music Group and also distribute $10 billion to shareholders in the form of a special dividend. Vivendi’s board, on the other hand, has proposed a buyback and dividend worth $6.2 billion to investors over the medium term.

Bollore and his board have resisted both calls, claiming that Umg remains a key part of Vivendi’s strategy and dismissing the inflated buyback as potentially damaging for the company’s long-term future.