French telecommunications company Orange’s pay-television sports and film channels accumulated losses of €630 million in their first three full years of operation, from 2008 to 2010, according to French newspaper Les Echos.
The figures for 2011 are not yet known, but the newspaper said they are understood to include further losses of about €200 million for the year. Orange’s French pay-television business includes sports channel Orange Sport, sports information channel Orange Sport Info, as well as the five channels under the Orange Cinéma Séries bouquet.
The report said subscriber numbers for the sports and film channels, which launched in autumn 2007, were too low to cover the cost of rights acquisitions. By late 2011 the channels had 771,000 subscribers, down from a peak of 900,000 a year earlier.
Earlier this month, Orange announced that Orange Sport would close down this summer after the telecommunications company failed to find a buyer for the channel. Orange Sport is expected to show the 2012 French Open tennis tournament, from May 27 to June 10, before ceasing broadcasts.
Last month, it was reported that Orange was in talks to sell Orange Sport Info to new media sports information company Sporever.