France: Disney ending Canal+ exclusivity
November 5, 2024
From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris
Disney has announced its distribution deal with French media group Canal+, which includes movie releases six months after their theatrical release, and access to Disney TV channels and streaming service Disney+, will not be renewed at the end of the current contract on December 31st 2024.
The deal, signed in 2019, allowed a first window broadcast of movies from studios Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, 20th Century Fox, Blue Sky and Fox Searchlight.
“From January 1st, 2025, Canal+ customers will no longer be able to watch our films or access Disney+ or our television channels with their subscriptions,” Disney told French press agency AFP, on the day Canal+ celebrated its 40th anniversary.
“However, all of our productions, films, series, documentaries, will remain accessible to all directly on Disney+” the company added.
Due to to the French theatrical window rules, viewers will now have to wait 17 months after the a movie’s cinema release before it will stream on Disney+.
Disappointed by the timing of the announcement, Gérald-Brice Viret, CEO of Canal+ France, said that “[Disney content] is a fairly marginal consumption by our subscribers […] They prefer Max, Paramount+, Netflix, Apple TV+ and Ciné+.”
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