MUZZIK to merge with MEZZO

Lagardère Thématiques

, (owned 51% by Lagardère Images and 49% by Canal Plus), owner of 100% of the capital of Muzzik, Wanadoo (France Télécom), France Television and Arte France, which own 100% of Mezzo, have announced the merger of their respective special-interest channels, Muzzik and Mezzo.

The merged entity will thus be the leading special-interest channel for classical music, opera, dance, jazz and world music in Europe.

The new entity will be called Mezzo and its ownership structure will be as follows: Lagardère Thématiques 50%, Wanadoo Audiovisuel 25%, France Télévision 22.5% and Arte France 2.5%.

Thierry Cammas, currently General Manager of MCM and of Muzzik, will be Chief Executive Officer of the new channel,
Nicolas Auboyneau, currently Assistant General Manager of Mezzo, will be the new General Manager,
and Pascal Chevalier, currently Broadcasting Director of Muzzik, will be Assistant General Manager.

The channel is widely broadcast in France via cable and satellite and has nearly 1,800,000 subscribers.

Abroad, some 6,000,000 subscribers receive this French channel via cable and satellite in 27 countries, i.e. the whole of continental Europe, Israel, Lebanon and North Africa.

With this merger, Lagardère, Canal Plus, Wanadoo, France Télévision and Arte France have chosen to join forces to develop a channel that will respond to the expectations of music lovers, opera and dance enthusiasts and world music and jazz fans. They have thus helped create the leading French cultural special-interest channel worldwide.

The new channel will reflect the richness of the French and European music scenes. It will continue to develop partnerships with musical institutions across Europe, in order to share the most important musical events with its subscribers.