Paris, September 11, 2015

 

Vivendi/Canal+ acquire the Studios de Boulogne in Paris



Vivendi today announced the acquisition of the prestigious Studios de Boulogne facilities in Paris.

The historic Studios de Boulogne have been the cornerstone of the French film and television industry for generations and have attracted some of the world’s most famous directors and stars.

Established in the early 1940s, the Studios de Boulogne were the setting for more than 300 French feature films (La dame aux camélias, Les vacances de monsieur Hulot, Touchez pas au grisbi, Les grandes manoeuvres, and also scenes from the Fantômas or Les grandes vacances), and were regularly used for major American films shot in France such as Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon, John Huston’s The Roots of Heaven, Martin Ritt’s Paris Blues or Stanley Donen’s Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

The Studios de Boulogne were completely renovated in 2000 to become a major television production facility.

The venue includes four large studios complete with world-class technical equipment. It houses Flab Prod, a production house acquired by Vivendi in 2015. Two of the leading Canal+ television shows, Le Grand Journal and Canal Football Club, are being produced in the Studios de Boulogne’s premises.

This acquisition is in line with Vivendi’s industrial strategy to provide Canal+ Group with the financial and technical means for its development. It secures tighter control over its means of production in order to create and distribute more content.

 

 

About Vivendi

Vivendi is an integrated media and content group. The company operates businesses throughout the media value chain, from talent discovery to the creation, production and distribution of content. The main subsidiaries of Vivendi comprise Canal+ Group and Universal Music Group. Canal+ is the leading pay-TV operator in France, and also serves markets in Africa, Poland and Vietnam. Canal+ operations include Studiocanal, a leading European player in production, sales and distribution of film and TV series. Universal Music Group is the world leader in recorded music, music publishing and merchandising, with more than 50 labels covering all genres. A separate division, Vivendi Village, brings together Vivendi Ticketing (ticketing in the UK, France and the U.S.), MyBestPro (experts counseling), Watchever (subscription video-on-demand) and the Paris-based concert venue L’Olympia. With 3 billion videos viewed each month, Dailymotion is one of the biggest aggregation and distribution platforms in the world. www.vivendi.com, www.cultureswithvivendi.com, www.themediashaker.com