24/07/2002 - The new president Fourtou has announced the sale of foreign branches of Canal+, and a re-concentration of activity in France. The production company Studio Canal is saved

Jean-RenéFourtou, the new President of Vivendi Universal, summarized his new strategy yesterday: in a departure from that of his predecessor, Jean-Marie Messier, Fourtou's plan will focus on activities in France to the detriment of foreign business. The reorganization will be primarily of Canal+ Group, which has accumulated 4.5 billion Euro in debt. Vivendi Universal's Board of Directors and the Council which oversees its audio-visual affairs, CSA approved Jean-René Fourtou's proposal to sell part of the Group's assets. From now on, the business will focus on France and the new company will be called Canal + France. Until a full or partial sale can be made, the affiliate stations of Canal + - Spain, Belgium, Poland, and Italy - will remain within the Group. Telepiù is already in the middle of negotiations between Vivendi Universal and Rupert Murdoch's Australian News Corp. and the sale may be finalized by the end of August.
As for cinema, Studio Canal Production Company, created in 1996, will remain under the new structure, reassuring those who feared that the group's catalogue (more than 5,000 films) would be bought out by Americans. Still in the realm of cinema, the fate of UGC , currently involved in production, distribution, the sale of film rights abroad, and cinemas (850 screens all over Europe), does not appear to be settled. Its sale is still uncertain because it remains difficult to find a European buyer and the possibility that a major American company will want to enter into operations in France doesn't seem likely.