Orange CEO confirms in talks with Canal Plus

Orange CEO Stéphane Richard has said that his group is still in discussion with Canal Plus to form a partnership based on the Orange Cinéma series channels. Richard said Orange and Canal Plus were also discussing other possible areas of cooperation, including football rights, in order to reduce rights acquisition costs.

Richard said a deal with Canal Plus owner Vivendi was one of a number of possibilities for Orange. He also said that Orange was in talks with the French football league and that the group would probably come to a decision by September over whether to team up with a partner to acquire the rights to French football jointly.

Richard said he didn’t envisage major acquisitions for Orange, but that he wanted to double the group’s revenues from emerging markets over the next three to five years.