Orange is set to become the second French telecom operator to agree to distribute Netflix, with CEO Stéphane Richard confirming that the service provider has struck a deal with the subscription VoD provider.
Following Bouygues Telecom’s deal with Netflix, Orange has signed a deal with the US OTT provider to make its services available via its TV box. The agreement, initially reported by daily Le Figaro, was confirmed by Richard this morning.
Richard, speaking at Orange’s Hello show 2014 event, also confirmed that Orange would launch its own SVoD service. Both services will be avialble via Orange’s TV interface on multiple screens, and will be launched at the beginning of November.
Richard said that negotiations with Netflix had been “hard” but had now produced a deal. He said he saw no reason to deprive Orange subscribers of a service they wanted access to via TV boxes.
It has previously been reported that the terms offered by Netflix were not acceptable to Orange and rival service provider Free.
Richard said Orange will launch its own SVoD service, possibly in partnership with another party and with an emphasis on French content. Richard said Orange hoped to strike a deal with a partner and rights holders soon, possibly at the same time as Netflix appears on Orange boxes.
Orange’s own OCS service is likely to be central to the SVoD offering. Orange also currently has a deal in place with US content provider HBO to air its series 24 hours after they air in the US, which could also be key to a future SVoD offering.
The deal between Netflix and Orange leaves SFR, Numericable and Free as the major remaining distribution platforms with no agreement in place. SFR is in the process of being sold by Vivendi, parent company of Netflix’s main rival Canal+, to cable operator Numericable, which is a major distributor of pay TV services in its own right.
Bouygues Telecom has agreed to deliver Netflix via its Bbox platform from November.
DTVE: the week in view – With WandaVision, @Disney shows that it has the scale to be the true @netflix competitor… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
16 January 2021 @ 13:00:00 UTC
DAZN poaches Ladbrokes-owner’s CEO in senior reshuffle #TopStoriesofTheWeek digitaltveurope.com/2021/01/11/daz…
16 January 2021 @ 10:00:00 UTC
ICYMI: @WarnerMedia rejigs Lat Am with network president and originals chief exiting digitaltveurope.com/2021/01/15/war… https://t.co/IG9L87W13m
15 January 2021 @ 20:00:00 UTC
ICYMI: @peacockTV expected to hit 52 million subs by 2024 digitaltveurope.com/2021/01/15/pea… https://t.co/9zii6y3goV
15 January 2021 @ 19:00:01 UTC
Outgoing US president Trump adds Xiaomi to DoD blacklist digitaltveurope.com/2021/01/15/out… https://t.co/ORDj0JVQvY
15 January 2021 @ 18:00:00 UTC