French pay TV operator Canal+ and the leading European games software vendor, Infogames Entertainment, have signed a deal for the creation of a channel, to be jointly owned by the two groups, devoted to information on, and the marketing of, videogames. The new channel will be launched in France in the second half of this year, then rolled out across Europe thereafter. A spokesperson for Canal+ said the new channel will ‘complement our existing offerings, which allow you to play games (Canal Jeux), download software to your PC via the set-top box (C: ) and, by the time it is launched, access the internet via satellite’. He said the new service would be funded by advertising and sponsorship, the channel representing a highly focused marketing vehicle for videogame manufacturers. The French platform for the new channel will be CanalSatellite Numerique, which is partly owned and already carries all the existing offerings from Canal+, the spokesperson explained. The videogame channel will be part of the operator’s basic service. As for the rest of Europe, the platforms to be targeted initially by the new channel’s owners will be those already carrying Canal+ programming, such as Canal Satelite Digital in Spain, which is also partly owned by the company. There are similar examples in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Holland, and Canal+ also plans to launch platforms in Poland and the Scandinavian countries later this year.
