France Telecom claimed this week that it was under no pressure to sign up more studios for its new premium film channels as it seeks to carve a niche in the market alongside the established Canal Plus. The company recently announced plans to launch next month five film channels under the Orange Cinema Series brand. It has exclusive five-year deals with Warner Brothers and MGM for first-run films and library titles, plus a similar deal with HBO for television series. "We don't need that many studios," said Herve Payan, senior vice president of content services and partnerships at Orange/France Telecom. "We have enough programming now for 2008 and 2009 and of course we are assessing opportunities as they come. "For the time being, two studios is enough because our positioning is not the same as Canal Plus. Since we are mixing library titles and new movies then we are fine with a few tens of exclusive titles."
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