Network Canal+ Group Owner Vivendi | Owned by Vivendi Founded 4 November 1984 | |
Launched 4 November 1984; 32 years ago (1984-11-04) Picture format 576i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV) Audience share 2.8% (2013, Médiamétrie) Slogan (French) Créateur et original depuis 1984
(Creator and original since 1984) Headquarters Issy-les-Moulineaux, France Founders Pierre Lescure, André Rousselet Subsidiaries Studio Bagel, Studio Expand, VivendiNet S.A., Wizja TV, CANAL+ Active, Canal+ Nordic TV shows Le Grand Journal (Canal+), Les Guignols, Braquo, Le Petit Journal, Spiral Films produced Blue Is the Warmest Colour, The Intouchables, Amélie, Terminator 2: Judgment, Taken 3 Profiles | ||
Canal+ ("Canal Plus", "C+", [kanalˈplys], meaning "Channel Plus/More") is a French premium cable television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted. Unencrypted programming can be viewed free of charge on Canal+ and on satellite on Canal+ Clair (Clear).
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Canal+ is a supporter of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) initiative (a consortium of broadcasting and Internet industry companies including SES, OpenTV and Institut für Rundfunktechnik), which promotes and establishes an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.
History
After the announcement about the launch of the fourth French television channel, Canal+ started broadcasting on 4 November 1984. In 1986, the channel had one million subscribers. It has produced numerous films of auteurs, including David Lynch's The Straight Story, Mulholland Dr., and Inland Empire.
With the launch of the digital satellite channel CanalSatellite on 27 April 1996, Canal+ received two new sister channels: Canal+ Jaune and Canal+ Bleu. A fourth channel, called Canal+ Vert came along on 31 August 1998. The channels changed their names to Canal+ Confort (now known as Canal+ Décalé since 2005), Canal+ Cinéma and Canal+ Sport in 1 November 2003.
In September 2005, Canal+, Canal+ Cinéma and Canal+ Sport started broadcasting in the French digital terrestrial television network. The free-to-air parts of Canal+ had already been broadcasting for a few months by then. In August 2008, Canal+ started broadcasting the encrypted parts of its main channel in high-definition in the terrestrial network. Canal+ announced plans to turn off the analogue terrestrial signals by 2010.
An account of the rise of Canal+ and CanalSatellite, and the establishment of the Canal+ Group as a major satellite broadcaster in Europe is given in the book, High Above, which tells the story of the foundation and development of the leading European satellite operator, Astra.
In February 2013, for €29 million per year, Canal+ bought the TV rights for the FIA Formula One World Championship. The same year, the group bought the rights of the English Premier League, the most watched football league in the world.
In July 2014, the launch of a new pan-African TV channel - A+ - was announced. Based in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), it aims to become the leading television company in French-speaking Africa.
Programmes
Les Chaînes Canal+
Les Chaînes Canal+ is the brand name used for all the Canal+-branded channels in France. Prior to 2008 it was called Canal+ Le Bouquet.
Sister channels
As Canal+ was launched in new markets the brand has been used in several countries. When launching additional channels the channels were usually given colour-coded names, such as Canal+ Blue, Canal+ Green and Canal+ Yellow. Many of these subsidiaries have been sold and as of 2007, only the Spanish and Polish Canal+ were partially owned by French Canal+.