French national SVOD plans take shape

France Télévisions has been in touch with key producers about securing content for its forthcoming SVOD service to rival Netflix in the French market, with a possible revenue-share arrangement – and potential equity participation by the producers – in mind, according to French financial daily Les Echos.

France Télévisions director-general Delphine Ernotte-Cunci revealed at a French parliamentary hearing last month that the SVOD service would likely be launched in the autumn. The launch will follow on from a planned revamp of existing catch-up service Pluzz, envisaged for May.

Ernotte-Cunci said at the time that the new SVOD platform would have to promote French content first and would have to be financially self-supporting.

According to Les Echos, France Télévisions had initially sought to form partnerships with international – and French – audiovisual media groups before turning to producers directly.

While details of the project have still to be worked out, according to the paper, the broadcaster is looking towards some kind of revenue share agreement, with the possibly equity participation of producers in the platform.

Les Echos said that the revamp of Pluzz in May would involve the addition of new content and a new name for the platform, which will be available on all screens as well as ISPs’ TV boxes. The SVOD platform will  be integrated with Pluzz’s replacement when it launches in the autumn.

According to the paper, the pubcaster envisages securing a relatively modest 800,000 subscribers over five to six years.