Canal+ plans pay option for OTT

French pay TV operator Canal+’s recently formed over-the-top arm, Canal OTT, is moving forwards with plans to launch new paid for on-demand services next year targeted specifically at tablet users, according to Canal OTT director Manuel Alduy.

Interviewed by French newspaper La Tribune, Alduy said that the new pay VoD services would form a third leg to the unit’s strategy alongside its free offering focused on free-to-air channels’ content and YouTube channels, and subscription VoD service, CanalPlay.

Canal+ last year launched CanalPlay Kids, an app targeted a young tablet users, which Alduy said prefigured its plans for a wider tablet-focused offering.

Alduy told La Tribune that “the real distinction” to be grasped is not between OTT and non-OTT services but between viewing on the main TV screen in the home and “individual screens” such as tablets and smartphones.

He said that Canal OTT had sought to target the latter with personalised content including its offer of YouTube channels. However, it had hitherto proved difficult to make money from individual viewing, he said, and the new services planned for next year are intended to address this.

Alduy said that 80% of CanalPlay’s 520,000 subscribers as of September had chosen its IP-enabled box-delivered €9.99 a month service, while the remainder had chosen the €7.99 (US$9.50) tablet and mobile-only option.

Alduy said that most CanalPlay subscribers were younger than other Canal+ customers and did not take the main service.