Vincent Bolloré, the chairman of Vivendi, has said the media company’s French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus requires up to €2bn ($2.2bn), including a major investment in sport, to remain competitive.
According to the Reuters news agency, Bolloré told Canal Plus staff in Paris that the broadcaster required the incremental investment to “transform” in the wake of the emergence of rivals such as beIN Media Group and internet streaming service Netflix.
“It is essential that we reinvest in sport,” Bolloré said. “We must have the courage to invest when things go wrong,” he added.
According to French newspaper Le Figaro, Canal Plus lost 88,000 subscribers in France in the 12 months through to the end of September.