Vivendi Looking Into Alliance of Canal Plus, Liberty Media
Vivendi Universal Chairman Jean-Marie Messier on Wednesday flagged the possibility of teaming his TV arm, Canal Plus, with the assets of U.S. cable king John Malone, saying he saw strategic sense in an alliance.
Speaking at a UBS Warburg media conference in New York, Messier said linking the European programming and distribution assets of pay-TV operator Canal Plus with Malone’s cable group, Liberty Media Corp., offered “the best strategic outcome.”
Liberty Media controls Europe’s largest cable operator, UPC, and is set to become Germany’s biggest cable player, pending regulatory approval.
France-based Canal Plus is one of Europe’s biggest satellite TV operators and is part of one of the world’s biggest media groups.
“I think the best strategic outcome in Europe today would be to find a business alliance between Canal Plus and John Malone. Those two groups and sets of assets are complementary,” Messier said at the conference.
Messier did not provide further details of what shape a European alliance might take, and analysts guessed it could mean either a straight programming deal or Canal Plus taking stakes in Liberty Media interests in Britain and Germany.
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