Pathé Sport

Pathé Sport was a private French thematic television channel of the Pathé devoted to sport and broadcast from May 1999 to October 25, 2002. Initially named AB Sports since it was created by the AB Groupe in 1997, the channel became Sport+ when it was bought by the Canal+ Group.

History

AB Groupe sold 51% of AB Sports' capital for 39 million Franc to Pathé, which then became part of their thematic television channels.^[1] Pathé renamed the channel Pathé Sport in December 1998 and it gained notoriety thanks to its programming designed for the French public, the live coverage of sport events and the variety of sports they offered.

The acquisition of Eurosport France by the TF1 Group at the beginning of 2001 and the subsequent decision of the Canal+ Group to launch a new sports channel in the autumn of 2002, created a more competitive context in the sports rights market which jeopardized the development plan by Pathé Sport and led Pathé to sell 60% of the channel's capital in March 2002 to Canal+ Group,^[2] the remaining 40% being sold on 26 October in exchange for 80% of the capital of Télé Monte Carlo. The operation allowed Canal+ Group to get back a sports channel it had lost since the absorption of Eurosport France, of which it was a shareholder, by TF1 S.A.. The channel again changed its name to Sport+ on October 26, 2002.

Programming

The programming of Pathé Sport was designed for the French public with many live coverage of sport events and broadcast of a wide variety of sports.

Distribution

Pathé Sport was broadcast via cable by Numericable and via satellite exclusively on CanalSatellite.

References

External links