Netflix’s French TV Impact Praised As Sarandos Commits To Theatrical

Ted Sarandos made a surprise appearance last night at the Canal+ content launch. After receiving praise for the streamer's influence in France, he shed more light on Netflixplans for a Warner Bros. theatrical release if this deal goes through.

Maxim SandThe chairman and CEO of Canal+, who has consistently supported Netflix's management and strategy, said the streamer has been “very beneficial” to his company. Netflix launched in France on September 14 to a hostile audience that was culturally more inclined to watch free TV channels or go to the cinema.

“Before you appeared, we had about 30% of the French willing to pay [to watch] Television,” Saada said. “Netflix came to France with your offer and user experience, and you convinced the French to pay, and now pay TV penetration is 75%. You've practically doubled the market size in France, so kudos to you for that.”

Sarandos responded that Netflix knows it “has to make television worth paying for” and “good enough that consumers are happy to pay for it.”

Theater commitment

Sarandos was asked about the reasons for the purchase of Warner Bros. for $83 billion, and he decided to respond by outlining Netflix's shortcomings in the entertainment business and reaffirming Netflix's commitment to releasing studio films in theaters.

“It’s hard to imagine that we’ve only been doing original programming for 12 years,” he said. “We moved very quickly, building out the library as quickly as we could. We did everything we were given the green light to do, so it's not a very deep development pool. Our library only goes back ten years, whereas Warner Bros. goes back a hundred years. They know a lot about things we've never done, like theatrical distribution.

“Our intentions when we acquire Warner Bros. will be to continue to release Warner Bros. studio films in brick-and-mortar theaters. Those films will be through the Canal+ release agreement. We've never done this before because we've never had a theatrical release mechanism. We monetized films through our own subscription service because that's how we grew the business the fastest.”

In France, cinema distribution rules are complex, and Netflix and Canal+ are among those that have sought to shorten the long windows that keep theatrical films out of TV screens. Netflix currently has to wait 15 months before it can stream movies in the country.

Saada questioned whether Netflix would continue its relationship with Canal+ after the deal with Warner, which he called “80% partners and maybe 20% competitors” – especially in terms of sports rights.

Sarandos responded that Netflix would only compete in “event” and “specialty” sports, such as the upcoming Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul boxing match or American football on Christmas Day. “Our core mission is film and television,” Sarandos said. “I don’t think we’ll go from 80-20 to 20-80.”

Netflix is ​​vying to acquire Warner, and Paramount is also interested in a hostile takeover bid. Financial Times It was reported this morning that Warner is set to reject Paramount's offer.