It is a remarkable performance given that only 2

Orange wants to do most everything all alone, but wants to be a major player in the television. Yesterday, at the presentation of its strategic plan for five years, the Director-General, Stéphane Richard announced that he was "a few weeks" to try to find one or more partners likely to enter the capital of its chains of sport and entertainment. Orange, which is, in the term, minority shareholder of these chains would remain, if necessary, majority in the first place. Short on details, Stéphane Richard spoke about discussions clearly yet informal with the professional football league as with Rupert Murdoch, the pattern of the NewsCorp media giant. With its future partners, Orange will decide if he is candidate for a pay frequency of TNT in France.

Even if Stéphane Richard stated clearly that it would not only, as in 2006, more than 200 million per year to acquire the rights to a handful of games, the fact that Orange has not renounced any ambition in this area is good news for the League. The latter, seeking to renew his rights, nearly 700 million euros per year, from 2012, Redoubt indeed above all have as one potential purchaser, Canal . Even if the transaction is financially sensitive, the League therefore considering the possibility of launch, alone or in partnership, its own chain. Associated with Bank and Endemol, the Dutch league already taken the step by creating its own pay channel in the summer 2008.

If Orange, who believes it is socially "a form of liability, and therefore of interest to be in the content" does not waive play a role in the audio-visual sector as in the press, it is firstly that it considers do not have to be ashamed of the first balance sheet of its television channels. Orange Sports and bouquet Orange Cinema Series "have found an audience" of 800,000 subscribers in four years. It is a "remarkable performance", given that only 2.7 million households subscribed to its Internet offer fixed ADSL with a sufficient flow to receive television over IP can be clients of these strings.

New doctrine

Pragmatic, the Group believes that its strategy, which has not paid off, must an evolution. "This is not helped us acquire new subscribers", pointed out the pattern, the Group recorded very poor NET recruitment in the ADSL and mobile last year. In addition, the challenge to the principle of immunity by the competition authority makes risky current strategy.

This reflection therefore leads to a new doctrine: France Telecom is not intended to produce content, but indeed to build "partnerships focused on technology." Feed pipes, its box and its "smartphones", the Group may sign industrial or distribution agreements, pooling resources for research or the hearing, taking minority stakes. "This could be the case in"The world"." "It could be tomorrow in the television," explains Stéphane Richard, who points out that all major worldwide telecom operators, Deutsche Telekom to Telefonica, say not to want to touch the media because it is not their business, "but do not always".

The contents are "fuel system". To combat the Apple or Google which seek to intercalate into the relationship between Orange and its clients, Stéphane Richard hoped that the effort of France Telecom innovation will help to find new economic models for media. Did he not invented booth Minitel, precursor of the current "appstores"