IBC: Canal+ Inks Major Agreement With Ericsson

Complete Coverage: IBC2013

Ericsson has concluded a major deal with Canal+ Overseas to provide an array of broadcast services that includes ingestion, technical production, post-production and playout.

Canal+ Overseas oversees Canal+ and CanalSat for the French overseas territories and in Africa and the deal with Ericsson covers twenty-two international channels, fourteen of which will feature regular live programming.

In a statement, Frédéric Brochard, technical director Canal+  cited "Ericsson's expertise both in the broadcasting and the managed services" as a key reason for selecting the vendor.

Under the terms of the five-year contract, Ericsson is responsible for the technical preparation for ingestion, including studio and production gallery, post-production and playout services, as well as managing the technical aspects of content preparation and archiving.

The media and broadcast facility will be linked back to the Canal+ file-based content system to help streamline workflows and improve productivity.

Ericsson will also provide offices for Canal+ Overseas staff.

The deal is the most recent example of Ericsson's expanding broadcast services business that is run by more than 1,000 Ericsson employees based in hubs in France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Currently Ericsson Broadcast Services ingests more than 200,000 hours of content and produces more than 1.5 million hours of programming in more than 90 languages for more than 200 TV channels each year.