In today’s episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, VarietyElsa Keslassy’s Elsa Keslassy explains the battle brewing in France between Netflix and other streaming services over the country’s programming quotas and its theatrical movie window rules.

Keslassy, ​​what is it VarietyNetflix’s international editor, based in Paris, claims that France has a “love-hate relationship” with Netflix. The streamer has invested millions of dollars in French content, but is irritated by new regulations imposed in 2022 by the European Union that established a 20% quota of locally produced programming for Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and other streamers active in the country.

Netflix executives have been particularly vocal about what they see as arbitrary regulations on how and how much Netflix can invest in films and TV shows produced in France.

“We have a love-hate relationship with Netflix in France. They are the number one streaming service. Now everyone has Netflix in France. But the problem is that we also want them to invest a lot of money in French content, because they are popular here. So the French industry says, well, you are making money with our market, so you need to invest in French content, French series, French movies. Like Canal+, for example, which is the leading pay TV service in France, it is investing a lot of money in local content.” explains Keslassy. “So it all comes from this mentality that all players in France need to invest in local content.”

The regulations are structured to ensure that Netflix doesn’t spend all of that fee on a handful of expensive titles. There are new stipulations on investing in a variety of genres, from animation to documentaries, as well as television and narrative and unscripted films.

“They’ve set new quotas for Netflix, requiring them to invest in animation and documentaries within the 20 percent they have to invest. So they’re not even free to invest as much as they want within those percentages,” says Keslassy. “They have to invest in a certain type of content. [Netflix] It seems like it’s very, very restrictive and basically violates the editorial freedom that they should have.”

Meanwhile, Keslassy details the brinkmanship that exists between the State, Canal+ and the main streamers. Canal+ obtains an advantageous television window for premieres in French theaters, while streamers have to wait about 15 months.

“Canal+ actually has a six-month window after the theatrical release. And they have that window in exchange for greater investment in local production. They are investing 230 million euros a year in French films. They are spending that amount of money because they can have a six-month window for films released in theaters,” says Keslassy. “Canal+ has said that if Netflix had a window as good as theirs, it would stop investing in French films.”

(Pictured: the popular French Netflix series “Lupin”)

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