Sporever in talks to buy Orange Sport Info channel

Sporever, the new-media sports information company, is in talks to acquire French sports information channel Orange Sport Info, according to Le Parisien.

The newspaper said that negotiations about a takeover had been going on “for some time” and that Sporever would aim to secure a carriage deal for Orange Sport Info on the CanalSat satellite platform to ensure the channel’s “financial sustainability.”

However, Sporever could struggle to convince CanalSat to carry another sports information channel, with pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus already having its Infosport+ sports news channel on the platform, the report added.

Telecommunications company Orange, which owns part of Sporever, has been looking for new partners to secure the futures of Orange Sport Info as well as its premium sports channel, Orange Sport, for some time.

Orange had been in talks with pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera over a possible takeover of the Orange Sport channel but negotiations ended without a deal several weeks ago. Al Jazeera will launch two new sports channels in France in the first half of this year.