The digital transformation of CANAL+’s historic tape archive

Customer Success Stories

CANAL+ is a French premium television channel that launched in 1984 and today boasts more than 21 million subscribers.

2 August 20238 mins

The digital transformation of Canal+'s historic tape archive

CANAL+ is a French premium television channel and a leading media company with over 21 million subscribers worldwide. Known for its diverse range of content, including movies, sports, and original programming, CANAL+ has a storied history and a significant archive of broadcast content.

“Broadcasters are faced with a huge demand for streaming content, so it makes sense to repurpose our valuable existing assets to answer that demand. Iron Mountain Media & Archive Services’ expert team knows our content, understands our stringent quality requirements and is able to accommodate time-sensitive requests to deliver the content we need with precision and efficiency.”

— Albert Sellem, Director of Operations at CANAL+

Situation

CANAL+, boasting a colossal collection of half a million tapes of broadcast content, faced the pressing need to modernize its archive. This was critical not just for internal efficiency but also pivotal in expanding its streaming services, requiring streamlined access to a treasure trove of historical and contemporary media to meet the demands of a digital-first audience.

Solution

Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services undertook the task of digitizing 100,000 tapes for CANAL+, meticulously integrating this vast content into their Smart Vault platform. This not only ensured secure, organized, and easily searchable archives but also enhanced content accessibility for editing, production, and distribution. Additionally, an emergency provision service was established, enabling rapid uploads of specific content, thereby significantly boosting CANAL+'s capacity to leverage its rich media archives for innovative streaming offerings and archival projects.

Client Value

CANAL+ was able to repurpose valuable content for its 21 million viewers due to Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services’ partnership as a physical and digital content repository that ensured CANAL+’s physical content was safe and secure, while its digital copies were easily accessible and distributed for future monetisation.