The North Africa Journal: Canal+ Dropping out of North African TV Screens 

Canal+ Dropping out of North African TV Screens
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The North Africa Journal on 26 December, 2008 03:58:00
 
Able to descramble Canal+ satellite signals, millions of viewers in North Africa
were surprised to see a dark screen when they turned on their TV sets on January
1, 2009. This is because the satellite that has been carrying Canal+, Hotbird,
will no longer do so by year end. The reason is because Canal+ will move into
Canalsat instead; a satellite and DSL pay television service, which is partly
owned by Canal+.
The news has sent a chill down the spine of professional descramblers and
pirates. Canal+ has been trying to battle piracy with technology measures, and
always ended up loosing given that its initiatives were not strong enough. The
move to a new satellite will have some ripple effects above and beyond just the
viewers. Media companies and more importantly advertisers and ad agencies would
have to review their plans since their approach to advertisement also included
the size of the entire market, inclusive of non-paying viewers.