The new offerings will include live sports matches, scripted dramas, soap operas, and even unscripted shows like The Voice. “This is a first-of-its-kind partnership that plays to our strengths of giving audiences the best entertainment alongside the best discovery experience,” Netflix CEO Greg Peters said in a statement shared by the streamer. “By teaming up with France’s leading broadcaster we will provide French consumers with even more reasons to come to Netflix every day and to stay with us for all their entertainment.”
While the streamer has dabbled in live broadcasts (with mixed results) in the past, Netflix has fallen somewhat behind its competitors—i.e. Hulu + Live TV—in the realm of broadcast integration. The Verge hypothesizes that the deal could contribute toward a legal requirement stating that Netflix must invest a portion of its French revenue into French-language content, so it’s unclear whether users in other countries can expect similar partnerships in the future. If this sort of partnership does become more widespread, the TF1 deal represents the equivalent of Netflix acquiring rights to stream all content from CBS in the U.S., or ITV in the U.K., The Verge notes. TF1 reportedly covers about 24% of the French linear TV market.
“As viewing habits shift toward on-demand consumption and audience fragmentation increases, this unprecedented alliance will enable our premium content to reach unparalleled audiences and unlock new reach for advertisers within an ecosystem that perfectly complements our TF1+ platform,” said Rodolphe Belmer, CEO of TF1 Group, in a statement. We’ll see if this alliance becomes a little more precedented in the coming weeks and months.
