JupiterResearch: Canal+ to be launched on SFR

Thomas Husson posts at the Juptier Analyst Weblogs about Canal+'s deal to launch a mobile video on demand offering on SFR network. Both are sunsidiaries of Vivendi. Husson writes:

The offer is compelling : top quality content (football from Il Calcio and La Liga, La minute blonde, Groland, Les Guignols), a strong brand, a good pricing (5 euros / month for unlimited streaming excluding adult content during the promotional period and 7 euros / month after).

He thinks the only element missing is that "the same service has been available on Orange (SFR's main competitor in the French market) for months," and wonders if it was "a way to test the service for it to be fully ready and compelling for SFR customers or was it more simply a way to reach the widest audience possible, that is to say Orange customer base (almost 50% of the French market)?" Husson concludes that:

Not suprisingly, mobile-only operators such as Vodafone and O2 are rumored to invest in the fixed space and to launch converged services. In the long-run, they could be able to distribute content on various platforms. I haven't heard that they are rumored to buy media companies. Only incumbent integrated operators are reported to do so (Premiere to be acquired by Deutsche Telekom: would that really make sense?).