03/02/2003 - Major re-shuffle in French group's board of administration: who goes where, and why?

Fréderic Sichler has been appointed to the position of managing director (MD) of Studio Canal following the resignation of Richard Lenormand. Sichler, 55, was head of Gaumont’s international department from 1984-1985. He was MD of Disques Erato for a decade prior to joining Euripide Productions, an independent TV and feature film production company (whose films include Benoît Jacquot’s Tosca). Numerous industry insiders share the view that Sichler’s joining Studio Canal is the first step towards the sale of the Canal Plus Group’s European film production arm, whose huge library of films is whetting the appetites of numerous potential buyers.
In the meantime, the Canal+ board is being radically re-organised with Corinne Cornut, Studio Canal’s former head of finance, being moved to the Production and Development office.
According to an article published by leading French daily newspaper, "Le Monde", Jean-René Fourtou, the head of Vivendi Universal who own Canal+, is said to be seriously thinking about replacing the current president of Canal+, Xavier Couture with Bertrand Meheut, a former colleague in the chemical industry who joined the media group four months ago. Fourtou’s decision to appoint a man without any experience of the audiovisual industry is a clear sign of Canal+’s difficult situation and its steady loss of subscribers. It is furthermore rumoured that Canal+’s leading manager, Dominique Farrugia, is about to be replaced by Guillaume de Vergès, a deputy director and head of programming at TF1.

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(Translated from French)