Netflix is calling for mandatory investment caps on French content as it advances its lobbying efforts to gain early access to newly released films.
The US streaming giant, which has become one of the biggest private backers of French film and TV production, has warned that current rules are becoming unsustainable, arguing that without changes, US platforms could account for nearly half of all funding for French productions by 2030, up from around a quarter in 2024, according to estimates cited by Le Monde newspaper.
A Netflix spokesperson told a French newspaper: “As an essential partner of French creative activity, and determined to remain one, we are sounding the alarm about the viability of the current rules regarding funding by broadcasters.”
At the heart of the debate is France’s 2021 Decree implementing the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which requires subscription streamers such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ to invest 20% of their domestic revenue in French and European films and series. This country has imposed the highest obligations on streamers in Europe.
As the city of Brussels prepares to review the directive this fall, Netflix hopes the European Commission will heed its calls to limit investment requirements.
Netflix currently invests more than €250 million a year in French series, documentaries and films, including around €50 million in films. The distributor said it produced or financed 20 to 25 French productions a year, noting that forcing that number to grow in line with revenue would be disproportionate to French audience demand.
Netflix, which launched in France nearly 12 years ago, has faced growing criticism in recent months of imbalances in France’s system. As previously reported by Variety, Netflix filed an appeal with the French Council of State last year, taking aim at the country’s window regulations that force it to wait twice as long as Disney+ to stream a movie after its theatrical release, despite significantly increasing its investment in local content overall.
Under France’s current window rules, Canal+ can stream movies six months after their theatrical release, but Disney+ has secured a nine-month window by increasing its investment commitments for movies released in theaters. Netflix, on the other hand, has a 15-month period and is asking for it to be shortened to 12 months.
These strict window regulations are the reason why Netflix is unable to screen films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, which requires all Palme d’Or nominees to have a theatrical release. That’s why Greta Gerwig’s The Chronicles of Narnia will not be released in IMAX in France, but directly on Netflix.
