CanalWeb

CanalWeb Start-up emblematic of French-speaking Internet was a Platform of Télévision launched Interactive on the Web in July 1998

History

Create with initiative of Jacques Rosselin chairman of CanalWeb but also of:

Beatrice Lecacheux, Commercial
Romain GIRES, Technology
Patrick VALLEY, Production
Christian VAN DER BORGHT, High-Flow, Prospective

and Jean-Francis STRAP, President of the Board of trustees See also

CanalWeb, was the pioneer in Europe as an operator of Télévision on Internet was put in file for bankruptcy in February 2002 has to give up the whole of its production activities in April 30th 2002.

CanalWeb, conceived initially like a kind of " Canalsat of the web" , produced in its studios more than 5.000 hours of programs in very varied fields, energy of the failures to the Short film while passing by the angling. Its programs, generally of a format " talk-show" from half an hour, were accessible and to the request on line. Its most popular program was Diagonale (today réincarné in DiagonaleTV), a program devoted to the failures, until the arrival into 2000 of Brigitte Lahaie, which durably took the first place with a program devoted to the Sexualité.

CanalWeb was also pioneer of participative television with the launching of TéléPerso, in May 2000, which made it possible each and everyone to put its Vidéo on line on the site. Alas, at the time, the Téléchargement was more complex and the vidéaste was to generally send its cassette… by the post office.

CanalWeb created two foreign subsidiary companies in spring 2000, one in Germany and the other in Spain with Ovideo, operator of Barcelona TV (BTV). CanalWeb also created in 1999 a financial Web-television with the Blue Dimension, TVBourse.net and, in 2000, TVWeb Régions, a television network local on the Net with several Quotidien S of the Regional press: TVWeb33 with South-west (CanalWeb was also a founding shareholder of the local chain TV7 Bordeaux), TVWeb Midi with the Dépêche of the South, TVWeb Brittany with the Telegram of Brest and TVWebTours with the Nouvelle Republic.

Started on the 8th floor of a mythical address, 15 avenue Cognacq-Jay, with a score of people, the operator knew a very fast growth in 2000 and counted up to 120 paid in December of this year. Its founding shareholders, apart from Jacques Rosselin, were Pierre Bergé and the South-western Groupe. They were joined by Galileo in 1999, then by the funds of investments Nesbic, FEEDS and the bank Vontobel.

It is in July 2001, which Galileo, refusing to subscribe to a capital growth, started a chain reaction of the other shareholders and plunged CanalWeb in a fatal financial crisis, which showed a voluntary liquidation, 15 days after September 11th. It is true that CanalWeb had not succeeded, in 3 years, to show its economic model and, more generally, of the possibility, for the video on Internet, to generate incomes. Possibility which causes interrogations still today…

Pioneer in Europe of television IP

Below some basic information, which one can find on the http://unitvnetwork.org/canalweb.html site, animated by Christian Vanderborght, pioneer of the interactive TV and member of the founder team of CanalWeb.

CanalWeb was the pioneer in Europe of television IP and more generally of than one can call new television. The televiewers of CanalWeb could already consume between 60 and 100 programs on line each week and accede to the request with a bouquet of more than 150 programs sets of themes through a EPG (electronic guide of programs) single in the world. It is of the techniques of this type, i.e. those of the production “low-cost” and the diffusion “IP” (Internet Protocol), which will be used by the traditional numerical operators in the years which come. The high banc Internet distributers, the telcos or the operators of digital television do nothing but take again what Canalweb developed. This double knowledge to make leading and technological, as its catalog of programs gave to CanalWeb an important advance in this very competitive sector.

The creation of this new audiovisual landscape will support the emergence of new entrants. CanalWeb, in a little more than two years, created a knowledge to make and products which no traditional operator knew to develop. It was the first operator of digital television on IP, proposing an accessible bouquet of programs sets of themes only on the interactive television set most powerful and more spread, the PC.

The knowledge to make of CanalWeb was exerted in three fields of digital television: specialized channels, chains of mark and company, local television: - The specialized channels have vocation has to be produced and distributed to the request under conditions close to the programs of CanalWeb. Confronted with numerical distributers which privilege the general channels and financially penalize the chains in center of interest, these last must reinvent their distribution. They can as of today supplementing their distribution broadcast by an interactive diffusion and with the request on a domestic PC. Conversely, a financial television channel as TVBourse (partnership with 50-50 CanalWeb/EuroNext Dimensions it Blue) must be logically consumed on a PC, but could profit from a useful exposure on chains general public. More generally, the programs sets of themes distributed on Internet by CanalWeb can enrich the programming by general channels broadcast, specialized channels or local chains.

- The chains of marks, slowed down by the regulation and the unsuited costs of diffusion suggested by the traditional operators, turn to interactive modes of diffusion on Internet. These chains, as well as the chains of company, constitute the spearhead of the offer “BtoB” of CanalWeb.

Finally CanalWeb constituted a television network local diffused via Internet with five large titles of the regional press. This network baptized TVWeb Régions must open with other titles of the PQR in order to offer a national cover. Each antenna of this network will form integral part of the device of local television of its area. Thus, TV7 Bordeaux, whose CanalWeb is shareholder, will approach TVWeb33 at the proper time. Of the same TVWeb Midday and TLT (Tele Toulouse) will be integrated in the pole television of the Dispatch of the South.

The objectives of CanalWeb were:

- Development of the first platform of digital television IP high banc in Europe in partnership with one or two industrial partners. This platform will be able to irrigate the parabolas turned towards this satellite as well as the network heads of the câblos operators and operators ADSL as well as the other terrestrial numerical networks. It could also be used as a basis for marketing of a solution DTH by a distributer such as CanalSatellite or TPS

- Development of the first bouquet of programs sets of themes by continuing the policy of production interns in its numerical studios of the street Troyon, but also by diffusing an interactive version of existing specialized channels, by using stocks sets of themes of production companies audio-visual and by tying partnerships of coproduction with the press magazine.

- Development of its policy of subscription to this accessible range of channels sets of themes on PC.

- Growth of the television network interactive local and started footbridges with hertzian television in each local antenna. Launching of TVWeb Paris in partnership with the Parisian one and other partners, in particular from the point of view of the launching of the call to the candidatures on the Parisian hertzian frequency. We wish to imply our Spanish partners of Barcelona TV and the Zeta press group in this project of City TV.

A bouquet hyper set of themes

CanalWeb proposed with its audience more than 150 hours of direct per week through the 300 programs of its bouquet. Failures with the cartoon, music with new technologies, video games with the gastronomy, CanalWeb embraced a great number of communities. Among its programs let us quote Laurent Laurent TV, Special Guest, CyberFemmes, Diagonale, ComixStrip, TVernissage, Shoot&Court, StarTech, JVTV, NewsMedia, GrekFrite, 2100TV, WWWAsia, TéléBocal, Animag, Bridge TV, DJ@Club, water with the Mouth, PsychoNet TV, WebMotoTV, It' S Only, Videon, ParuTV, Solo Operated, Thesaurus, Champs Urban, Reporter Without Borders, DiploTV, Zazinet, etc

The emergence of chains corporate

In same time, CanalWeb continued the development of chains dedicated to the companies and the communities for their internal and external communication (FNAC, Fedex, SBF, Galeries Lafayette, Siemens, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Paribas, French Income, the Expansion, Le Monde, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the minister of education, UNESCO etc) Filing of the diffused emissions…

All the emissions produced by CanalWeb were filed thus allowing the consultation at the request of the diffused programs. This type of consultation is one of the factors differentiating extremely compared to traditional television and represents today more than 80% of the consultations. CanalWeb produced a catalog of more than 8000 hours of emissions available.

Affiliated diffusers

CanalWeb, and its TVBourse.net subsidiary company, retransmettaient their programs through about thirty affiliated diffusers. These agreements of diffusion are brought to multiply in answer to the strong demand of the Internet sites, for which the video contents represent a major competing asset. According to Forrester Research (Sept. 99), 70% of the most visited sites have audio-visual contents and seek to increase these types of media. CanalWeb signed such agreements of diffusion with gates general practitioners Spray, Freesbee, Tripod, LibertySurf,…), of the sites sets of themes CPReTrade, SBF, GOA, Sports24,…) and of the important media (Release, Le Monde, NRJ,…).

Chronology

Jacques Rosselin assembles the plane business of CanalWeb while leaving to the conquest shareholders to a total value of FF 10 million and publishes CanalWeb, newsletter dealing with the meeting between Télévision and Internet.

Juil. 1998: CanalWeb is created with 4 investors: Pierre Bergé, Oléron Participations (Jean-Francis Strap), CEFID (Dominique Louis) and the Group South-western (via its Multi-media Atlantel subsidiary company)

Sept. 1998: Wink with the History, CanalWeb settles in Paris in the old head office of the ORTF, pionnière of a television of another time. CanalWeb, they are then 15 people and a budget of launching of FF 10 million.

Oct. 1998: CanalWeb carries out its first services “corporate” by retransmettant on line during three days the Multimédiaville Congress, the Franco-African Summit and the Trophies of the Creation of Company.

Jan. 1999: CanalWeb takes the antenna with the first 4 emissions on line: Laurent Laurent TV, Comix Strip, Special Guest, Diagonal

Feb. 1999: CanalWeb retransmet on line the press conference given by the General society and Paribas which announce their merger plan.

March 1999: CanalWeb receives the Gold 1999 Click as a “better site of media of the year”. Galileo joined the shareholding of CanalWeb. Already 5.500 Net surfers connect themselves each day on the programs of CanalWeb.

Avr. 1999: Creation of the first chain to consume with Fnac, and installation of studios of diffusion in five stores.

June 1999: Creation of TVBourse.net, a subsidiary company of CanalWeb exclusively devoted to the financial information, in partnership with the SBF.

Juil. 1999: Opening of TV LeMonde and LibéTV. Agreements of distribution with LibertySurf (the United Kingdom), Freesbee (France) and Spray (Sweden).

Oct. 99: Creation of the largest European platform of webcast on more 1400m ²

Nov. 99: Sponsored CanalWeb the demonstration NarrowCast 99 and is seen decreeing the price of the best site of television by Broadcast, review French of the professionals of the audio-visual one.

Dec. 99: Jacques Rosselin receives the Trophy Net 20 (decreed by “Strategies” and “the Newspaper of the Net”) for CanalWeb, “the most brilliant idea”.

Jan. 2000: launching of EuropeanStreaming, consortium of webcasters European (Holland, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Swiss etc), on the initiative of CanalWeb.

May 2000: raised funds joining together the Vontobel funds, FEEDS, Nesbic and Galileo. Lifting, initially envisaged to 10 million, reached 20 million euros.

June 2000: creation of CanalWeb Spain with Ovideo (Barcelona TV)

August 2000: creation of TVWeb area

September 2000: creation of CanalWeb Germany, installed with Berlin

January 2001 reinforcement of the team of management with the arrival of Jean-Luc Viaud (commercial) and Robert Jan Galema (Nesbic)

September 2001

Canalweb disappears, in the bursting of the speculative bubble.
Its platform technical is repurchased by WestCast.

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