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Endpoint: Canal Plus (French TV Channel)



created on: 29/04/2026
by: Lo55o (14409)
 
 

Brand properties

General info :
Canal Plus was the initial brand name of a subscription TV channel, launched in 1984, when there were only three government-owned channels available in France. It was referred to as "La Quatrième Chaîne" (The Fourth Channel).

The company behind Canal Plus - Société D'Édition De Canal Plus SAS - was co-founded by André Rousselet, president of the French multinational advertising company Havas, and Pierre Lescure, which proved very popular with media professionals and politicians. There were 186,000 subscribers, who committed to paying 140 francs (21.34 euros) per month for the service.

In March 1984, eight months before the official launch, Canal Plus started its retransmission tests in the Île-de-France region. Those first broadcasts were scheduled every day from 2 to 6 p.m. and consisted of music videos, animated short films, and various movie trailers.

The channel initially had to use 45% of its airtime on films until the film industry pushed back. Sport, interview shows, documentaries, and soft pornography joined films as the main staples of programming at this time. Starting in 1985, Canal+ has had a tradition of showing one pornographic film every month at midnight, generally on the first Saturday of the month.

The name most often used became Canal+.

In 1987, Canal+ went public. By 1989, Canal+ had almost three million subscribers. The company Canal+ France SA expanded into some European markets, notably Belgium, Spain, and Germany, and started setting up subsidiaries as it developed into Groupe Canal+ SA.

Digital satellite provider CanalSat was launched as a wholly owned subsidiary of Canal+ on 6 December 1991. 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 on 1 November 2003.

In January 2000, the Lagardère Group purchased a major stake in the digital television division. In December 2000, Vivendi SE acquired Canal+.


On December 31, 2014 Canal+ France SA was absorbed by Groupe Canal+ SA, which already owned 100% of its subsidiary.
Groupe Canal+ SA then directly held 48.5% of the share capital and voting rights of SECP SA. In 2014 the Canal+ name was managed by SECP SA (Société des Editions Canal+ SA). SECP SA oversaw the group's seven channels: Canal+, Canal+ Cinéma, Canal+ Décalé, Canal+ Sport, Canal+ Family, Sport+, and Golf+.


Canal+ was a subsidiary of the French conglomerate Vivendi until 9 December 2024. Since then, the conglomerate has remained 30.4% controlled by the French Bolloré family through the holding company Bolloré.

As part of the spin-off from Vivendi, Groupe Canal+ SA became the independent entity Canal+ SA. on 9 December, with a view to listing on the London Stock Exchange on 16 December 2024.
Relations :
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
Renamed to : Canal+
This endpoint is approved in the database from previous submissions.
Source :
ENA's

Magazines

(2 items)

Movies

(2 items)

Item number : 72606

Submitted by : Lo55o (14409)
on : 29/04/2026
Refined by : Lo55o (14409)
Last updated on: 29/04/2026