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OCS to become exclusive broadcaster of HBO programmes in France
In a move that will dent the hopes of on-demand rivals in the country, OCS has extended its multi-year transmission agreement with HBO in a deal which will see it become France’s exclusive home for the world-renowned programmes.
hbo goEver since the multi-channel package was created in 2008 as Orange Cinéma Séries, HBO has entrusted OCS with French premieres of its programmes. OCS regards HBO series as essential viewing and integral to its positioning of providing what its subscribers want. With what it describes as the extension and expansion of the alliance with the most prestigious brand in television series production, OCS believes that it can significantly enrich the content of its offer and of its use.
Through this agreement, OCS has access to the full HBO catalogue of several thousand hours of series, films and other programmes, and soon OCS subscribers will have unlimited access to the extensive variety of the full catalogue via a dedicated subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) HBO area. With its 2.6 million subscribers, OCS will be the only TV and SVOD service in France to broadcast HBO’s series including Big Little Lies, the final season of Girls, the upcoming last two seasons of Game of Thrones and the new seasons of Westworld.
The OCS City Generation HBO channel will continue its programming of the network’s productions, in particular with the widespread use of simultaneous broadcasts with HBO and with talk shows such as Real Time with Bill Maher and joins John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight.
Orange chairman and CEO Stéphane Richard and HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler today announced the renewal of the multi-year agreement initiated during the creation of OCS, which was due to end late 2018. The end date of the new contract has yet to be revealed.
Analysing what the ramifications of the deal could be, Paolo Pescatore, vice president of Multiplay and Media, CCS Insight, said: “This is a significant deal for both parties and once again underlines the importance of content. It will also be a major blow to rivals especially Canal+ who is struggling to maintain its position in the market. However, SFR, through its parent Altice, has been forging numerous partnerships with content providers and poses a considerable threat to Orange. With this in mind, securing exclusivity of key TV shows will be paramount in driving and maintaining subscribers. Content represents the next battleground as telcos prepare to battle to differentiate their offerings and lure subscribers to fibre broadband bundles.”