Vivendi and Canal Plus Group have announced the creation of Canal Plus France following their take over of rival platform TPS.

The deal, which had previously been announced, was made official on Friday and sees the combining of two rival groups who have led a bloody battle over film and sports rights along with subscribers over the past several years.

The new entity boasts more than 8 million subscribers and is exclusively controlled by Vivendi via Canal Plus Group.

Former TPS owners TF1 and M6 will hold a 15% share in Canal Plus France at 9.9% and 5.1% respectively. Lagardere owns 20% of the new outfit after having transferred its 34% share in CanalSat, along with cash, to the new group.

All of Canal Plus Group's French pay TV activities, including Canal Plus SA, Multithematiques, Canal Plus Distribution, CanalSat and TPS, now fall under Canal Plus France.

Not included in the deal are film production and sales arm StudioCanal, Polish pay TV subsidiary Cyfra Plus and 24 hour news channel i-Tele.

'The new entity represents a pay-TV player comparable in size to the largest groups in Europe, one that can effectively operate on the new competitive playing field and energize the television market for the benefit of consumers,' said a Friday press release.

It is as yet unclear how the new group will deal with the overlap of certain channels and what kinds of packages will be available to subscribers, however, investment in local film production by the new entity will continue.

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