French telecom signs deal with MGM for satellite rights including `Quantum`

French telco Orange is set to invest a proportion of its revenue in original local productions after striking deals with the national producers' associations, reports TBI Vision.

Orange, owned by France Telecom, operates an IPTV and satellite delivered pay TV service in France. It launched a new bouquet of TV series and movie channels in October, programmed with acquired product, but this move clears the way for original programming to be added to the mix.

Orange Cinema Series will invest 6% of revenues, expected to be between Euro10 million and Euro15 million (US$13.4 million to US$20.9 million) per year, in drama, documentaries and kids series after striking the deals with SPFA, SPI, USPA and SACD.

Orange has sealed exclusive movie output deals with Warner Bros and MGM and the latter will give it the upcoming James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. It will have about seventy first-window features a year and a range of library movies. It also has an agreement with HBO for premium scripted programming.

"We have fantastic series from HBO and we have done something with them that Canal Plus never did and made an output deal," Hervé Payan, head of content partnerships and services for Orange France, recently told TBIvision.

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