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| Formerly | Movistar+ (2015–2022) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Pay television |
| Predecessor | |
| Founded | 8 July 2015 |
| Headquarters | , Spain |
Key people | Cristina Burzako[1] |
| Products | Satellite television IPTV |
| Parent | Telefónica, S.A. |
| Website | Official website |
Movistar Plus+ (formerlyMovistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned byTelefónica, which operates inSpain. The service is distributed viaoptical fiber andADSL as well as with satellites such asAstra. The platform, which was officially launched on July 8, 2015, stems from the merger ofCanal+, previously responsible for the satellite TV operations, and Telefónica'sMovistar TV. It is the largest subscription television provider in Spain with 3.7 million customers and 45% of market share.[2]
Since 2013, various news regarding the possible purchase of Canal+'s Spanish assets by Telefónica were published. According to media reports, there were also many companies that expressed interest in buing the Pay-TV platform, as Al Jazeera,Vivendi, which ownedCanal+ France, and Rupert Murdoch. This was critical forPRISA, owners of Canal+ Spain, as they had been looking for ways to resolve the debt the company had been accumulating since 2008, due the2008 financial crisis,[3] with rumors of an acquisition by Telefónica beginning to take place as early as that year.[4]
On May 6, 2014,Telefónica submitted a binding to gain 56% PRISA had in Canal+ Spain, in exchange for paying about 725 million euros. PRISA ended up accepting the offer the following month.[5]
On June 18, 2014,Telefónica submitted a binding offer to acquireMediaset Spain's 22% ownership of Canal+ Spain for 295 million euros. The offer was later accepted on July 4, 2014, allowingTelefónica to obtain full control of the company.[6]
On April 22, 2015, the CNMC gave its approval to the sale of Canal+ toTelefónica. After this, Canal+ began the process of merging with Movistar TV effective July 7, 2015, which resulted in the creation of Movistar+ the following day.
In June 2019, an over-the-top video streaming service was launched under the brand Movistar+ Lite. It features select content but not LaLiga football matches or cinema and series exclusives. The streaming offer saw a complete overhaul on August 1, 2023, now offering a larger amount of content and the majority of the linear TV channels available on the satellite and IPTV offers, making the service more similar toSky'sNow.
Over the course of 2023, Movistar Plus+ renewed its deals with all major Hollywood Studios to continue offering their content on the Spanish TV platform. All television channels in Spain fromSony Pictures Entertainment,The Walt Disney Company,Warner Bros. Discovery,Paramount Global andComcast continued to be broadcast on Movistar Plus+. This also saw the incorporation of the studios' content directly on Movistar Plus+'s video-on-demand services, with said content coming directly from Sony'sAXN Now, Warner Bros. Discovery'sHBO Max and Paramount and Comcast'sSkyShowtime, while Disney's content is available through the offer of subscriptions toDisney+ at a discounted price.[7][8][9][10]
In January 2024, after earlier exceptional involvements in film production withWhile at War (2019) andPrison 77 (2022), Movistar Plus+ announced a strategy to act as co-producer of films on a sustained basis, presenting a slate of 5 initial titles set to begin production in 2024 and to be directed byIcíar Bollaín (I'm Nevenka),Rodrigo Sorogoyen (The Beloved),Alberto Rodríguez (Los Tigres),Oliver Laxe (Sirāt), andAna Rujas (El desencanto).[11]
On 28 January 2025, Movistar Plus+ revived the original name of the Cine por M+ channel — which was renamed Estrenos por M+—[12] and replaced Series por M+ with a new blockbuster movie channel, Hits por M+.[13] Likewise, Caza y Pesca became part of the platform's basic package.[14] These changes were carried out after the departure ofAMC Networks' channels from the platform, effective 1 January 2025, which prompted the operator to reorganize its offering of its own channels to compensate for the disappearance of these signals.[15]
In 2025, Movistar Plus+ sacked Director of Fiction & Entertainment Domingo Corral, the chief responsible for the platform's move into scripted originals after joining in 2014.[16] He was replaced by Jorge Pezzi (fiction) and Hugo Tomás (non-fiction and entertainment).[16] This decision "stunned" the Spanish audiovisual industry and prompted a letter of support to Corral by near 150 figures of the entertainment industry.[17][n. 1]
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