FRANCE / France Télévisions preparing its SVoD plateform for 2017

In an interview with Le Monde published on May 3^rd, Laetitia Recayte, France Télévisions’ Director of Business Development, revealed the group is currently creating its own SVoD service (subscription video on demand).

A launch date has even been set: March 31^st 2017. Presented as a general-interest platform, the new service will not be limited to France Télévisions’ in-house catalogue but will also offer films, series and other broadcasters’ documentaries.

Asked about the growing competition in the SVoD market in Europe (Netflix, SFR’s Zive platform, the recent strategic alliance between Vivendi and Mediaset), Laetitia Recayte said there is “room for a public service offer which is clearly larger than the one currently provided by France Télévisions.” The stated objective is to diversify the public broadcaster’s sources of income.

In the same interview she also mentions the advertising ban on France Télévisions during the evening, “It’s an issue which one day, in my view, we must revise, to give us the development margins we need […] Rather than restrictions, I would prefer a system of self-regulation, as for youth programmes.”

Sources: Le Monde, Telecompaper, Les Numériques