In 1978, six years before Canal's launch, Jean Frydman, who had the TVCS (Télévision Communication Services) project, was planning a project to launch a fourth television channel in France, which had its roots in the previous
Canal 10 project. Whilst waiting for a billing to create an encrypted TV channel, the TVCS project had first planned to produce and broadcast their own programmes during time slots when three French television channels began broadcasting a
test card at night and in the morning. One year later in July 1979, it was announced that the channel had chosen to broadcast the programmes produced by public national television channel and the TVCS company
Antenne 2 (now known as France 2) who had broadcast encrypted programmes that were originally intended for businesses or certain professionals. In March 1984, eight months before the official launch, Canal+ 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. Canal+ was launched in November 1984, when there were only three government-owned channels available in France. It got off to a slow start, and some politicians, including prime minister
Laurent Fabius, railed against the idea of having a commercial TV channel. However, Rousselet was a personal friend of the president,
François Mitterrand, and so obtained favourable terms for the setup. Pierre Lescure was director-general at that time. A combination of political connections and clever programming – giving the French public American hit comedies and French drama not available on the government channels – worked, and subscriptions soon increased. Government regulations required that the channel give several hours of free programming each day, which was used by Canal+ to promote the subscription service. Its first logo was used from inception until 1995. 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. In 1985, the government opened up the market to other private commercial television stations, offering some serious competition. However, aggressive marketing and policies ensured that the company kept growing. joining his longtime friend Pierre Lescure. De Greef was first appointed director of production, then head of programmes, and finally as director general (1986–2000). De Greef was later described as a pioneer and visionary, who set the tone and created the "Canal Plus spirit", which embodied anti-conformism along with edgy satire that became very popular. He created the satirical puppet show ''
Les Guignols de l'Info and cult talk shows Nulle part ailleurs'', 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 acquired Canal+. In 2001, co-founder Alain De Greef was fired from his position as director-general and replaced by
Michel Denisot, when the organisation was
restructured under the leadership of
Jean-Marie Messier, chief executive of Vivendi. In April 2014,
Ligue 1, France's top
association football league, sold broadcast rights for 2016–2020 to Canal+ for 726 million
euros. In July 2024, reports emerged that Vivendi was exploring a potential London Stock Exchange listing for Canal+. In December 2024, Canal+ Group was spun-out as independent company. The channel will leave the terrestrial platform in France in June 2025, alongside Canal+ Cinéma, Canal+ Sport and Planète+, as a result of the cut in its agreement with Arcom to keep its licences afloats as a response to the non-renewal of its free-to-air channel
C8 by the
Arcom. Only 70,000 subscribers receive Canal+ in terrestrial. From 6 June 2025,
France 4 will take over its slot; from that day, the new digital terrestrial channel plan will be introduced. The number of subscribers has been decreasing to less than 30,000 on its final day of terrestrial broadcasts. Most terrestrial subscribers have easy access to other means where Canal+ can be found, such as satellite, IPTV decoders and smart TVs. Said subscriber base is not affected. Terrestrial subscriptions did not account for its advertising revenue, only its mobile application. The channel alone saved €5-6 million per channel by leaving the terrestrial platform, for an approximate total of €20-24 million. ==Description==