Orange and Canal Plus mull film channel merger

French pay-TV operators Orange and Canal Plus are talking about combining their respective movie channels, according to French press reports. These said that France Telecom-owned Orange would contribute one or more of the channels from its Orange Cinema Series bouquet and Canal Plus would fold in the TPS Star film channel.

The prospect of an alliance between the two follows comments from new France Telecom boss Stephane Richard suggesting the company would rein in investment in content and seek partners to help spread the cost of programming and operating its TV channels.