Canal+ Luxembourg S.à.r.l. (

trade name A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

: M7 Group) is a

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

-based television provider owned by the French media conglomerate Canal+. It operates several

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

pay TV platforms: HD Austria in Austria, Télésat in Belgium and Luxembourg,

TV Vlaanderen TV Vlaanderen is a Digital data, digital satellite television and terrestrial television service provider for the Flanders region and community in Belgium. TV Vlaanderen's customers are mostly people living in Flanders. However, as TV Vlaandere ...

in the

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

region in Belgium, Skylink in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Canal Digitaal CanalDigitaal is a provider of digital television via satellite for the Netherlands, Dutch market, using the SES Astra, Astra satellites at Astra 23.5°E, 23.5° east. Initially customers were mainly Dutch citizens in the countryside who did ...

and Online.nl in the Netherlands, Focus Sat in Romania, and Direct One in Hungary. It also operates a terrestrial pay television platform in Flanders, Belgium, and offers B2B multimedia services. Groupe Canal+ bought the company in 2019, and M7 has been rebranding some of its services as Canal+ since .

History

The private equity firm Astorg acquired a majority of the company in July 2014 for €350 million via its Fund V from Providence and Airbridge Investments. Providence is a Private Equity investment firm and Airbridge Investments is the holding company of executives Hans Wolfert and Cees Bohnenn. In December 2017, the company became fully owned by Astorg. The exit of minority shareholders took place at the time of a €570 million debt refinancing which allowed to pay a dividend of €175 million to the former shareholders. On 30 July 2014, its subsidiary M7 Deutschland bought the German B2B satellite platform Kabelkiosk from

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it has been the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Its subsidiary E ...

. In 2016, M7 Group closed the Hungarian satellite platform Hello HD. In December 2018, the company announced the purchase of

Liberty Global Liberty Global Ltd. is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company domiciled in Bermuda, with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Holdings Limited (UK), Liberty Glo ...

's satellite operations located in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania for €180 million. This sale was processed after necessary permissions, in spring 2019. Freesat platform acquired in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been integrated into Skylink. On 28 May 2019, it was announced that

Vivendi Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

Canal+ Group Canal+ S.A., formerly Groupe Canal+, is a French Media conglomerate, media and telecommunications Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Paris. It runs its own Canal+ (streaming service), eponymous Over-the-top media service, over-the-to ...

would acquire M7 Group for 1.1 billion €. The sale was effectuated on 12 September 2019 after the European Commission gave its permission. M7 Group announced that Diveo, the German satellite platform which was launched in February 2018, will be closed on 30 November 2019. In July 2020, M7 Group S.A. merged with UPC DTH S.à.r.l. and changed its official name into Canal+ Luxembourg S.à.r.l. The M7 brand name remains in use with the "A Canal+ Group company" tagline. Groupe Canal+ bought the company in 2019, although retains its own name. M7 has been rebranding as Canal+ from .

References

External links

* {{Television in Belgium Direct broadcast satellite services Canal+ S.A. Television in Austria Television in Belgium Television in the Czech Republic Television in Hungary Television in the Netherlands Television in Romania Television in Slovakia Television in Germany 2019 mergers and acquisitions