- Agreements already signed with LDCom and Cegetel/soon to be finalized with France Telecom
- CANAL+ digital service and CANALSATELLITE available via ADSL
- A multi-operator strategy to reach the largest number of households
- CANAL+ Group developed its own ADSL decoder

Paris, December 18, 2003

CANAL+ Group has taken a wide range of measures to offer digital television via ADSL by deploying a program distribution strategy designed to reach the largest number of households possible, whether Internet-connected or not, under optimal conditions.

The premium channel and its multiplexed versions (Cinéma, Sport and Confort) and CANALSATELLITE will be available as from the first quarter of 2004 under current sales terms via a simple phone line in several large French cities. Service will first be offered in Marseille and soon after in Paris and the neighboring Hauts-de-Seine department, representing some two million households. The western city of Rennes is next on the list, followed by broader deployment including Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, and Strasbourg in the second half of the year.

In all, the plan calls for coverage of some 20 cities in 2004.

CANAL+ and CANALSATELLITE via ADSL will be marketed in particular by the Group’s distribution network.

Initial deployment will be carried out in partnership with LDCom, following an agreement signed a few weeks ago. The Group’s ADSL TV service will be launched in Marseille in March 2004. Under the terms of their agreement, CANAL+ Group will be able to introduce its offers with LDCom in the other large French cities during the year.

An agreement with France Telecom is being finalized and will be signed in the days ahead. Under this agreement, CANAL+ and CANALSATELLITE will be available as from first half 2004 via France Telecom’s ADSL networks in the Paris region.

CANAL+ Group has also reached an agreement with Cegetel to offer CANAL+ and CANALSATELLITE in Rennes during the second quarter of 2004.

Households that subscribe through LDCom and Cegetel will use a decoder developed by CANAL+ Group. The Group has leveraged its technological expertise in this area to develop an ADSL-compatible version of its own MEDIASAT digital set-top box. In a project conducted with CANAL+ Technologies and Thomson over the last few months, the Group has devised a totally secure decoder offering the new version of the MEDIAGUARD access control system at a particularly attractive production cost. The decoders are currently available and in subscriber field tests with subscribers in the Paris region.

CANAL+ Group’s digital broadcasting center is already equipped and ready to broadcast the CANAL+ channels and the CANALSATELLITE package to telecom operators.

ADSL technology will facilitate access to the Group’s offering in city centers and allow CANAL+ to reach consumers in areas with poor or non-existent cable service, or for whom satellite reception is difficult or impossible, while providing impeccable technical quality and content protection.


Communications Department

Laurence Gallot + 33 1 44 25 19 42
Jean-Louis Erneux + 33 1 44 25 75 81