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Canal+, Iroko launch African streamer

France’s Canal+ Group and Nigerian VoD firm Iroko have struck a multimillion-euro deal to launch the first Francophone streaming service in French-speaking Africa.

The service bills itself as creating a “mobile-only subscriber base across Francophone Africa,” with the first Android app with download functionality set to launch in the coming months.

Canal+ Group now claims to own and broadcast the largest catalogue of African content – including Nollywood films and TV series, African homemade series and shows and South American TV Novelas – for French-speaking Africa.

The French firm and Iroko have previously worked together via content distribution deals for linear TV channels such as Nollywood TV.

Jacques du Puy, president of Canal+ Overseas, said: “Now that Canal+ is close to having two million pay TV households in Africa, our ambition is to widen our audience to those whose mobile is the main entertainment device.

“Iroko’s original approach integrating popular content production and mobile SVoD perfectly matches our group’s entertainment vision in French-speaking Africa. This will also allow us to make the content that we specifically produce and design for the African market more accessible.”

It follows Iroko’s move into the linear channels business earlier this year and the launch of a content distribution and licensing arm last month.

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