40 years old, the age of reason? The age of crisis? The beginning of the end? This November 4, 2024, Canal+ reaches a milestone by celebrating its fortieth anniversary. If the channel celebrates with a big evening hosted by Antoine De Caunes, the occasion is too good not to wonder if Canal+ is doing well in its forties.
Nerdy and boss of the PAF? Has the triumphant channel of the 1990s been able to adapt? To judge, we based ourselves on the three pillars on which Canal has built its legend: cinema, Football and porn.
A constant commitment to cinema
“The cinema channel”, this is how Canal+ nicknamed itself when it was created. For forty years, StudioCanal has been essential in the production of films but also series in both French and English. With successes like Love phewthe firm still seems to be ready to continue its beautiful love affair with French cinema.
Its image as an “innovative” and “inclusive” channel has deteriorated over the years and with competition from other platforms, but Canal+ is not resting on its laurels as revealed by the corporate newspaper Box-office Pro. At the start of the year, Canal+ committed to continuing its commitment to French cinema for another five years, specifying that it could put more than a billion euros on the table.
“43% of films financed by Canal+ are so-called diversity films, that is to say with a budget of less than 4 million euros,” explained Maxime Saada, chairman of the management board of the Canal group during his hearing at the national assembly at the start of 2024. This represents 25% of our investments, but our obligations rise to 17%. »
According to him, this enthusiastic commitment concerns all types of films to defend “the diversity of French cinema production, particularly in terms of production budgets, diversity of talents, filmmakers and types of films financed”. Enough to make us very optimistic for the future of Canal+, of which OCS/Orange is also a part, for its involvement in the field of the 7th Art.
Football in a new division
Midlife is associated with the crisis that bears its name and with divorce. Canal+ does not escape logic. At the dawn of its 40th anniversary, the encrypted channel has cut ties with its faithful companion, Ligue 1. A stormy separation from which Canal paradoxically emerges grown while French football is being reprimanded by the Senate.
From the king of sport, she has only kept the sure values, the Champions League, the Premier League and Hervé Mathoux. In its treatment of sport, the channel is to TV what 501 is to jeans, timeless and identifiable, never revolutionary but never out of date. The new blood injected helps to renew the air: Habib Beye has become a meme on the networks, Samir Nasri seduces with his anecdotes and Bertrand Latour, the latest arrival, brings a welcome hint of impertinence.
It is perhaps outside of football that we need to find a fresh perspective at Canal. Formula 1 has given itself a dust-up – helped by Netflix – with Julien Fébreau and his promise of “meeting at the first corner”. In his latest feat of arms, the journalist was able to bear witness to the “crossover” between Charles Leclerc and an Air Force squadron in the “supersonic” documentary. There is no longer Ligue 1, but there is still the idea.
The shift towards ethical porn
Before Canal+ broadcast it, porn was the cassettes that were exchanged secretly and in a few cinemas with male customers. So the new ritual of porn on the first Sunday of the month on TV was a bit of a revolution on our small screens. But now that porn is just a click away, is it still subversive to continue showing it on TV?
Anoushka, director of ethical and feminist porn films, has been working with Canal+ for ten years and has made six films for the channel. For her, “porn on TV is not subversive, it is cinema, like any other film, it is a genre. Canal+ produces feature films that last between 1h20 and 1h30, with real narration, sets, casting, and above all according to an ethical charter, which ensures a safe filming environment, with fair remuneration, attention paid to notion of consent, and with the presence of an intimacy coordinator. It is a guarantee of quality. It's very different from what you can find on streaming platforms, where there are mainly short, raw and gonzo scenes, where you don't know where the images come from, the conditions in which they were filmed.
Faced with competition from tubes, Canal+ has a role to play in the porn field. “The channel was able to take a societal turn, according to Anoushka. The porn films she produces are still very popular, and give a boost to porn. In my films, I address themes from a feminist and queer point of view. I don't think I could go this far into these topics with any other channel. »
