ViacomCBS will launch its Paramount+ streaming service in France late this year as part of a long-term strategic partnership with Vivendi’s Canal+ Group, which the two companies unveiled on Tuesday.
The deal with the big pay TV provider, set to kick in this December, will give subscribers of the Canal+ Cine Séries package — which already offers a broad range of films and series, including full access to Netflix, Disney+, Starzplay and more — access to the ViacomCBS streamer. Canal+ has about 8.9 million subscribers in France.
Paramount+ will be “the home of Showtime in France” and feature Paramount Pictures’ movies, new Paramount+ originals, Nickelodeon’s characters, and MTV and CBS Studios’ offerings.
New series will include The Offer, a biographical limited event series about the development of the film The Godfather, The Man Who Fell to Earth, a drama with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Naomie Harris, scripted anthology series The First Lady, starring Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson, musical series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, as well as Fatal Attraction starring Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson.
“Paramount+ will also bring French fans well-known franchises like Billions, Dexter, SpongeBob, South Park, Star Trek and many more, alongside iconic movies from Paramount Pictures, such as The Godfather, Transformers, Mission: Impossible and many more,” the companies said.
ViacomCBS Networks International last year struck a similar deal with Comcast’s Sky to launch Paramount+ on Sky platforms in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria this year as part of a new multi-year distribution agreement.
French consumers will also have direct access to the streamer via the Paramount+ app and via connected TVs and streaming platforms. Details on pricing and local content offerings will be unveiled at a later date.
The Canal+ partnership also covers distribution of nine ViacomCBS networks on the pay TV provider, namely Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Junior, Nickelodeon Teen, MTV, Paramount Channel, Game One, J-One, BET and Comedy Central.
Also included is the “premiere of ViacomCBS content exclusively for Canal+ Group channels and services” before they move to Paramount+, including films from Paramount Pictures and select original series from Showtime, the companies added.
Canal+ channels will air Paramount films six months after their theatrical release in the country, in line with new French media chronology regulations. That means that subscribers will this year be able to watch Top Gun: Maverick and Scream on Canal+ channels, followed by their debut on Paramount+.
Among the Showtime series set to premiere on Canal+ services will be Yellowjackets, Super Pumped and Your Honor 2.
“In addition, the highly-anticipated series Halo will be available as a Paramount+ original in France on Canal+ as a special partner event for Paramount+ ahead of the service’s launch later in 2022, where the series will become available upon launch,” the partners said.
“Today marks an important milestone for our streaming growth story,” said Raffaele Annecchino, president and CEO, ViacomCBS Networks International. “After the U.K., Italy, and Germany, the new strategic partnership with Canal + accelerates our expansion in Europe with the launch of Paramount+ in France in 2022.”
He added: “We are strategically creating a streaming model for long-term growth, rapidly gaining a solid footprint across all the major European countries. Our SVOD premium services allow us to expand our streaming business in more than 60 markets, as we build our momentum toward expanding Paramount+ in all the markets across the world.”
Canal+ chairman and CEO Maxime Saada touted the partnership as confirmation of the company’s “ability to team up with the most influential global players in the content industry.” He added: “It strengthens our businesses, both as an aggregator, via the distribution of Paramount+ and ViacomCBS’ channels, and as a publisher, by securing long-term exclusive access to Paramount Pictures movies and select Showtime series for our Canal+ channels.”