Manuel is Executive Vice President for CANAL+ Group Asia and Pacific. Since 2015, he also been a member of the CANAL+ Group Executive Committee. Today, he manages all strategy and shareholder relationships across CANAL+ affiliates and subsidiaries in Asia Pacific and oversees new opportunities for growth and M&A in the region. Previously, Manuel was Executive Director at VSTV, a CANAL+ International affiliate in Vietnam. Later, before joining CANAL+ Poland as Vice President of the Management Board, Chief Programming Officer, and Chief Executive Officer, he held the position of CEO of CANAL+ Caledonia.
CANAL+ Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi, is a major player in the creation and distribution of content worldwide, with 25.5 million subscribers and a presence in more than 50 countries. CANAL+ Group has 9.5 million subscribers in France and 7.6 million in Africa. It is the leading TV operator in French-speaking Africa and the largest shareholder in MultiChoice, the leader in pay-TV in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa. In June 2023, PCCW and CANAL+ jointly announced tthe formation of a strategic partnership to accelerate the growth of Viu, a leading pan-regional OTT video service with presence across Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa. As a result of the transaction, CANAL+ will become a significant minority shareholder in Viu.
CANAL+ Group is also a major player in the production and marketing of television channels, with 130 linear and non-linear channels produced in-house. It aggregates major thematic channels and global content platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+ and Apple TV+. With 3.5 billion euros invested in content each year, it is a key player in sport (main funder in France of football and rugby), films (leading funder in France and Poland), and series (including more than 50 original series per year in more than 15 languages). With the support of its subsidiary STUDIOCANAL, which owns 14 production companies, including 9 in Europe and one in the United States, CANAL+ Group is the leading producer and distributor of feature films and TV series in Europe. It holds a catalogue of more than 8 000 titles from more than 60 countries.