Vivendi In Talks With beIN Sports on Programming Deal

PARIS—Vivendi SA said Thursday it planned to tie up with its rival in a sport programming deal to try to stem losses at its French pay-TV channel and announced a takeover offer for French videogame company Gameloft SE.

Vivendi announced Canal Plus was in talks to become the exclusive distributor of beIN Sports in France for five years. The Qatari-owned sports channel entered the French market in 2012, spending millions of euros on sports rights including the UEFA Champions League and the soccer World Cup. BeIN Sports quickly built a base of some 2.5 million subscribers, becoming a formidable competitor to Canal Plus.

"We have one major challenge to address today: our pay TV operations in France," said Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine on a call with analysts. "There is an urgent need to stop losses and to commit to a transformation plan."

Canal Plus, which accounts for almost half of the company's sales, has struggled amid the economic downturn in France and heightened competition from the likes of beIN Sports and Netflix in recent years. Vivendi said Canal Plus had been losing money in France for the past four years.

Vivendi's said its turnaround plan for Canal Plus France could lead to a "significant decline" in 2016 operating results with the aim of the unit breaking even in 2018.

On Thursday, Vivendi also launched a hostile takeover of Gameloft at €6 a share ($6.67), valuing the French videogame company at €513 million.

The French media conglomerate reported profit, excluding some items, of €196 million for the fourth quarter, up 6% from a year earlier. Analysts had predicted adjusted net income of €168 million.

Sales rose 5.9% to €3.1 billion for the same period.

Vivendi had a cash pile of €6.4 billion on Dec. 31, the company said.

Write to Nick Kostov at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2016 13:55 ET (18:55 GMT)

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