Overview
- Canal+ has initiated a process aiming for full control of UGC by 2028, with local reports indicating the parties have entered exclusive talks.
- If completed, the deal would place Canal+ and StudioCanal across pre-financing, distribution, theatrical exhibition and television, concentrating influence over a film’s entire lifecycle.
- Independent groups ACID and SRF warn of reduced diversity in French cinema, and producers fear losing UGC’s distribution arm as a vital alternative for pre-financing and promotion.
- Regulatory review is expected by the Autorité de la concurrence, which previously identified diversity risks in Canal+’s 2024 OCS–Orange Studio acquisitions and imposed remedies accepted by the group.
- UGC operates 48 cinemas in France, including Paris’s Les Halles flagship, as the debate unfolds during a roughly 15% drop in theater attendance this year and broader consolidation pressures.