27/04/2018 - Paris - 09:52 GMT

Orange and Vivendi have joined forces to meet the expectations of the fast-growing African continent, keen to consume cultural goods and rediscovering, after three decades in which cinemas had all but disappeared, the unique experience of the big screen in the best technical conditions and absolute comfort.

CanalOlympia is the leading network of cinemas and performance venues deployed by Vivendi in central and Western Africa, with 8 cinemas open to date, twenty by the end of 2018 and several dozen in the next few years. Every week, several thousand spectators visit each of the cinemas, all equipped with a cutting-edge projection and sound system.

As part of this partnership, Orange will offer its “Cinédays” programme in all the CanalOlympia cinemas where Orange is present, i.e. 8 African countries and a dozen multi-purpose cinema and performance venues. Cinédays was launched in the UK in 2004. Today, it is available in Romania, Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Morocco. It enables Orange customers to benefit from a 2 for 1 cinema ticket offer once or twice a week, to invite a person of their choice to share an enjoyable moment at the cinema together.

The offer will initially be launched in Cameroon, quickly followed by Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, and Niger, then Mali, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the CanalOlympia network is deployed.

The CanalOlympia cinemas offer a varied programme including French films, films from different African countries, American blockbusters and productions specifically aimed at young people. Orange Studio may contribute to the programming with new co-productions as well as its extensive catalogue of European and African films.

Orange will provide its expertise and know-how to ensure the best connectivity and to improve the digital distribution of films in the various CanalOlympia cinemas.

Orange’s contribution to this ambitious project will also include the integration of Orange Money, its flagship mobile-based money transfer and financial services offer, now available in 17 countries with over 37 million customers. For the first time, you will be able to pay directly at the cinema using your mobile thanks to the digital tills.

About Vivendi

Vivendi is an integrated content, media and communications group. The company operates businesses throughout the media value chain, from talent discovery to the creation, production and distribution of content. Universal Music Group is the world leader in recorded music, music publishing and merchandising. It owns more than 50 labels covering all genres. Canal+ Group is France’s No. 1 pay-TV company, also present in Africa, Poland, Vietnam and Myanmar. Its subsidiary Studiocanal is a leading European player in the production, sales and distribution of movies and TV series. Havas Group is one of the world’s largest global communications group. It is organized in three main business units covering all the communications disciplines: creativity, media expertise and healthcare/wellness. Gameloft is a worldwide leader in mobile games, with 2 million games downloaded per day. Vivendi Village groups together talent scouting and development activities, live performance and ticketing activities, the venues L’Olympia and Théâtre de l’Œuvre in Paris and CanalOlympia in Africa. With 250 million users each month, Dailymotion is one of the biggest video content aggregation and distribution platforms in the world.