French telecommunications company Orange has expanded a partnership with pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus.
According to the Reuters news agency, the enhanced partnership with Canal Plus will include premium sports, movies and other programming.
Orange said that a new Canal Plus Essentiel package featuring the broadcaster's French channels will be offered to its fibre broadband customers, “without commitment and at a competitive price,” in the coming months.
Orange chief executive Stephane Richard said that the aim is to double the number of Orange customers who are also subscribers of Canal Plus to 1.8 million by 2020.
Orange, which has also announced the launch of a new content division, suggested earlier this year that it was interested in working with Canal Plus on acquiring sports rights.
Canal Plus is a major sports broadcaster in France, with rights to the domestic top-tier Ligue 1 football competition, amongst other properties.
In May, it agreed a three-year extension to its rights deal with the Formula One motor-racing championship.
The agreement, which will run from 2018 to 2020, was the first major broadcast contract struck by the sport’s new owners, US media company Liberty Media. The new deal includes the Formula 2 and GP3 series.