Streaming giant Netflix has hailed a “first-of-its-kind” deal with TF1 that will see its platform carry the French commercial broadcaster’s linear channels and on-demand content.
The agreement means Netflix users in France will now have access to all five of TF1’s free-to-air (FTA) channels and more than 30,000 hours of content from the TF1+ streaming platform as part of their existing subscription plan, bringing additional live sports, scripted content and entertainment programming to the service.
TF1 currently holds exclusive rights to French national team soccer matchesuntil 2028 and is also the home of games involving France’s men’s and women’s sides at International Basketball Federation (Fiba) competitions, meaning those broadcasts will now be available on Netflix. TF1 will also show games from the upcoming Uefa Women’s Euro 2025 and 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup international tournaments.
While Netflix and TF1 have previously worked together on co-productions, this is the streaming company’s first carriage deal with a traditional broadcaster and comes at a time when the platform has been growing its portfolio of live sports rights.
Netflix is now the global home of WWE Monday Night Raw and National Football League (NFL) games on Christmas Day, while it will also broadcast the next two editions of the Fifa Women’s World Cup in the US.
“This is a first-of-its-kind partnership that plays to our strengths of giving audiences the best entertainment alongside the best discovery experience,” said Greg Peters, co-chief executive of Netflix. “By teaming up with France’s leading broadcaster we will provide French consumers with even more reasons to come to Netflix every day and to stay with us for all their entertainment.”
Streaming platforms like Netflix have long been viewed as a threat to linear broadcasters, which have seen audiences and advertising revenues decline amid shifting viewing habits.
However, Netflix itself has shifted its business model in recent years by rolling out lower-priced ad-supported tiers to complement its more premium plans where viewing is not interrupted by adverts.
The deal with TF1 suggests Netflix could now be open to serving as an aggregator for other traditional television channels in the future, though Peters told the Financial Times (FT) that the company would see how this collaboration works before exploring additional partnerships with other broadcasters.
In the same interview, Peters declined to comment on how the two companies would share subscription and advertising revenues, while he also did not reveal if Netflix had paid an upfront fee to carry TF1’s channels and content.
TF1 currently reaches 58 million monthly viewers on television and boasts 35 million users on TF1+. Meanwhile, Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos said in 2022 that the streaming platform had surpassed 10 million subscribers in France, where a basic subscription costs €7.99 per month.
Also speaking to the FT, TF1 Group chief executive Rodolphe Belmer said he did not expect the agreement to cannibalise the broadcaster’s existing audience.
Commenting on the deal in an official announcement, Belmer added: “As viewing habits shift toward on-demand consumption and audience fragmentation increases, this unprecedented alliance will enable our premium content to reach unparalleled audiences and unlock new reach for advertisers within an ecosystem that perfectly complements our TF1+ platform.”
SportsProMedia
