Canal+, France’s communications giant, is a company that knows how to grow. With 3.6 million subscribers in France and over two million subscribers to four sister channels in Belgium, Spain, Germany and Africa, this year’s winner of the CanWest Global Outstanding Achievement Award is the European leader in pay-television. Since its launch in 1984, Canal+ has expanded exponentially.

Within France, via Canalsatellite, 10 thematic cable and satellite channels now broadcast movies, documentaries, sports, news, children’s programming and music videos. There’s even a channel, Canal Jimmy, specifically for the baby-boom generation.

Never satisfied to stay within the confines of its role as a broadcaster, Canal+ has its fingers in lots of pies. Through Le Studio Canal+ and Ellipse Programme, Canal+ produces and coproduces film and television projects. As a manufacturer, the company produces decoders and satellite reception equipment. More recently, it has branched out into distribution, multimedia ventures, and the development of digital technology.

But it was Canal+’s commitment to broadcasting programs from around the globe that won the support of the Banff festival’s international advisors. They praised the company for ‘opening international doors and creatively filling its schedule with works from around the world.’

These ‘works from around the world’ are the products of international partnerships. Canal+ coproductions, particularly those with American partners, have had enviable success. Partnerships with Carolco Pictures and New Regency have produced such box office hits as Basic Instinct, Terminator 2 and Cliffhanger.

On this side of the border, animation production company Nelvana owns a 20% share of Canal+’s Le Studio Ellipse and has coproduced a number of projects with the French giant, including 39 episodes each of Rupert and The Adventures of Tintin as well as 29 episodes of the animated children’s series Babar and a Babar movie. They also collaborated to produce The Neverending Story.

Jerry Ezekiel, president and director of the Banff Television Festival and member of the festival’s board of international advisors, says while the CanWest Global Outstanding Achievement Award is presented primarily to acknowledge extended bodies of work, the recipients are usually innovators as well.

‘The remarkable growth and expansion of Canal+ over the last decade could not have been possible without extraordinary creativity and vision. In just 10 years it has become a dominant player in the global market,’ he says.

Canal+ joins a distinguished list of Outstanding Achievement Award recipients. Previous winners include the Children’s Television Workshop, Ted Turner, Radio-Canada and Granada Television of the u.k.