Netflix France published an open letter decrying the unfairness of the country’s current windowing system that requires the streamer to wait 15 months after a film’s theatrical release before it can become available for its subscribers.
In a letter published today (April 11) in French newspaper L’Opinion, Pauline Dauvin, Netflix France’s VP of content, described the company as “more than a streaming service – we’re a fully integrated player in the French cultural ecosystem”.
Dauvin cited the company’s €250m investment in French production over the last four years, which she said had contributed €1.7bn to the French economy and supported 25,000 jobs. Netflix’s investments have largely come about as a result of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which has been mandating local content quotas for global streamers across the continent since 2022.
In the letter, Dauvin cited the global success of Netflix France productions Under Paris, Lupin and Class Act as well as the company’s contributions to restoring classic films and local film schools including La Fémis, Les Gobelins and La Cinéfabrique.
Netflix currently invests upwards of €50m per year in French cinema and is a financing partner on three films selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival: The Richest Woman In The World, Dalloway and The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol. All three are pre-buys for second window following theatrical release by their local distributors.
The company was the first and only streamer to sign the country’s original 2022 media chronology and was given a leg-up on other streamers with a 15-month window. “But today, we have to take a stand against a system that is out of touch with current realities,” Dauvin wrote. “Our request has remained unchanged since 2022: to reduce this timeframe for the films we pre-finance to our current level of investment.”
The ecosystem was shaken up earlier this year when Disney+ signed an agreement with local guilds agreeing to invest 25% of its annual net sales generated in France in exchange for a nine-month theatrical window, reduced from 17 months. That is only three months more than Canal+, which has a six-month window, the shortest of any broadcaster or streamer.
Disney+ has not revealed the precise financial commitment it offered in exchange for the reduced window but local press have reported that currently it would fall in the €35m range, less than Netflix’s €50m.
Prior to today’s letter, Canal+ also announced in early March that it planned to cut its investment in local film production over the next three years from €600m to €480m, while keeping its six-month window. Both appear to be direct responses to Disney+’s reduced window.
According to a report on French production in 2024 from national film body the CNC earlier this week, Netflix contributes 80% of total streamers’ investments in French feature film production.
Dauvin asked in her letter for the industry to bring in “balanced rules that reflect both new viewing habits and our significant contribution to French creation”.
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