[Satellite News 04-15-10] Canal Overseas expects to add a significant number of new channels to its DTH operation in North Africa over the coming year in order to achieve its goal of about 300,000 subscribers, Bruno Thibaudeau, general manager of Canal Overseas told Satellite News.
    Thibaudeau said the company expects to have up to 50 channels on its recently launched DTH bouquet by the end of 2010. “We need this number channels to be successful in the market. We have only launched the service in the last six months. We hope to be profitable in 2-3 years. We think in the markets we are in and that there is the potential to have one million pay-TV subscribers. So, we are targeting around 300,000 subscribers.”
    Canal works with Middle East operator Arabsat in delivering its video service, but will need additional partners to secure capacity. “We have some ambitions to increase the platform, so we could well need more capacity both in 2010 and 2011. We have some French speaking populations, which we are targeting such as Algeria and Morocco, which we think will be good markets for our services,” said Thibaudeau.
    While the platform has only recently launched, one of the big issues, according to Thibaudeau will be when there might be HD content available to its subscriber base in North Africa. Thibaudeau said that Canal has not yet made a decision on if HD channels would be available. “For us, it would be a big investment to move to HD. We have to determine what the market will be for HD. We think the markets in North Africa are starting to be ready for HD. We think right now is the best period to launch pay-TV into the market. We have not made the exact decision in terms of when we will launch HD. Right now, we are doing our market research in terms of the potential of HD.”
    To achieve its business plans, the major challenge for Canal over the next year will be to find a good mix between price and content, according to Thibaudeau. “We also need to make sure that piracy does not impact this market, as well as prepare for the potential launch of HDTV services. We are really at the beginning of a new era in some of these markets. We are learning every day about this market. We have entered into complex markets. We have to find the right price and right content to be successful in these markets.”