Canal+ Group, which is led by CEO Maxime Saada and houses film production and distribution arm StudioCanal, on Thursday highlighted its “commitment to cinema.” The French media giant said in early September that it had entered exclusive negotiations to acquire a 34 percent minority stake in UGC, one of France’s largest cinema chains, with an option to take full control of the company in 2028. On Thursday, it said it had signed the deal.
“In addition to its cinema chain, UGC owns a high-quality content library and IP that would further expand Studiocanal’s catalogue, which already includes over 9,400 titles,” the company said. “The transaction demonstrates the group’s commitment to cinema.”
Providing color on Studiocanal’s performance, Canal+ also highlighted on Thursday one of the successful film releases, I Swear, Kirk Jones’ Scottish Tourette Syndrome advocate dramedy starring Robert Aramayo. Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson, and Peter Mullan also feature in the movie. “Critically acclaimed film I Swear is currently number 1 at the U.K. box office and set a new record as the highest-rated film by U.K. cinema audiences since records began,” the company said.
The pay-TV company, which was spun off from Vivendi, had ended 2024 with 26.9 million subscribers, saying it was eyeing an “active M&A strategy.”
Revenue for the first nine months of 2025 of €4.61 billion was up 1.2 percent organically before including the results from MultiChoice over a period of 11 days.
Canal+ previously acquired a controlling stake in African pay-TV giant MultiChoice. Earlier this week, the company said that “the integration of MultiChoice and Canal+ has now commenced,” adding: “Following an in-depth review, Canal+ intends to inform the market of its detailed plans and synergies when it provides a strategic update for the combined group during the first quarter of 2026.”
The company is now seeking a secondary listing of Canal+ shares in Johannesburg, in addition to its primary stock listing in London.
“Over the nine months, we have made significant progress on delivering our strategic and financial priorities,” said Saada. “With the coming together of Canal+ and MultiChoice, a clarified path to full ownership by Canal+ and an upcoming secondary listing in Johannesburg, our business begins a transformational new era. With 40 million customers across 70 countries, we now have true scale.”
He added: “We are committed to generating value creation at pace and utilising our greater scale to deliver synergies and improve our combined business for the benefit of our customers, colleagues and shareholders.”
Saada has touted the firm’s “super-aggregation strategy.” Amid the emergence of subscription video on-demand platforms, Canal+ did not approach them as a threat but an opportunity. “Like in judo, we’ve used the strength of others to our advantage in our super-aggregation strategy,” he said last year.
