Information Technology Reference
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Figure 3. The competitive role of IPTV systems
update its offer every week. In November 2006,
Orange has launched a new SVoD service “24/24
Jeunesse” allowing access to series for children for
a monthly fee of Euro 4.90, followed later by the
launch of “24/24 Musique” and “24/24 Séries”.
However the most disruptive strategic move
of Orange has been the entry into TV business,
resulting in a blurring of borders between VoD
and TV, as well as with fixed and mobile chan-
nels. Four main events can be outlined. The first
was the launch in 2007 of “Orange sport TV”
for its IPTV subscribers. The second was the
acquisition of three shares (out of twelve) of the
soccer league championship diffusion rights, for
both live and VoD diffusion, on Internet, TV and
mobile. The third one is the announcement of the
launch of an exclusive catch-up TV service
6
of the
French public TV channels, “Rewind TV”. The
last (and not the least), was the announcement
of an exclusive deal with Warner Bros, HBO,
International Television, Gaumont, and Fidélité
Films. Orange has negotiated exclusive rights for
their catalogue for duration of at least 5 years,
for direct diffusion and VoD, for IPTV, Internet
and mobile channels. Orange has also announced
the launch of six exclusive Orange new pay-TV
channels diffusing this catalogue. Orange is also
marginally involved in movie production, via a
subsidiary called “studio 37”, and created in 2007.
Free
Free (Iliad Group) is the third ADSL operator
in France with 2.9 million subscribers, but the
first for IPTV with around 2.4 million customers
with IPTV access
7
. This is due to the fact that
the triple play package has been the standard of-
fer by Free, while other competitors offered the
choice between single, double and triple play.
Free initially had a strategy of giving an access
to the main VoD service providers on the market:
Canalplay (Canal+), TF1 Vision (TF1), M6 Video
(M6), and Vodeo.tv. However, Free has also made
a move towards providing its own services. After
negotiating directly with Warner and Disney-ABC
International Television, Free has launched a SVoD
service, “Free Home Video”, giving access to 50
films and 100 series every week for a monthly
fee of Euro 5.90. Free has also announced the
launch of a High Definition premium service for
a monthly fee of Euro 9.99.
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