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PARIS -- French broadcaster Canal Plus said on Monday that it had almost doubled its stake in theme channel Comedie to 34% by exercising an option to acquire the 15.3% shares held by French production house Rigolo Films 2000. French actor and producer Olivier Granier, who runs Rigolo Films along with Dominique Farrugia, will step down from his post as head of the humor channel as a result of the acquisition, a spokesman for the channel said. His deputy, Mireille Duteil, will succeed him. Launched in 1997 as a joint venture between Canal Plus, Rigolo Films and Pathe, which continues to control 66% of the local channel, Comedie features serials and comedy shows such as Saturday Night Live. It is available in France via cable distributors and through Canal Plus' satellite platform CanalSatellite. The channel is also distributed in Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and in French-speaking territories including Guadeloupe and Martinique.

PARIS -- Pathe Distribution, the film distribution and international sales arm of French giant Pathe, said Wednesday that Olivier Granier will replace Marc Bonduel as head of the company. Granier, the chief of French production companies RF2K and Galfin Prods., will retain his positions as director general of the Comedie! channel and co-manager of the Cuisine TV channel, both majority-owned by Pathe. He starts his new post Wednesday. Bonduel, who led Pathe Distribution for only a year, helped put Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra on a record 950 screens in France, drawing 14.5 million viewers. The company declined to elaborate on Bonduel's exit, and Bonduel was not available for comment Wednesday. With Pathe, RF2K and Galfin Prods. produced Franco Zeffirelli's Callas Forever, Gerard Jugnot's Monsieur Batignole and Pitof's Vidocq.