French service providers ‘open to Salto’

French service providers have indicated their willingness to add forthcoming streaming service Salto to their offerings, although no deals have yet been signed.

Speaking at the Médias en Seine event, Altice Europe CEO Alain Weill said that it was “logical” that his group would sign a deal to bring Salto to its users base, having already concluded agreements with streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, according to local reports. He said that his company would be “delighted” to accommodate the new service.

David Kessler, director of content at Orange, also said that he had no doubt discussions would take place to add Salto, a JV between France Télévisions, TF1 and M6, to its box.

Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada welcomed the arrival of the new offering but cautioned that content that has hitherto been free-to-view should not become a paid-for service.

Saada also said he was concerned that international streaming operators were increasingly reserving rights to content for their own platforms, leaving pay TV platforms struggling to acquire quality international content.

M6 CEO Nicolas de Tavernost has previously said that Salto will ot appear on the IPTV boxes that dominate TV distribution in the country, at least initially.

Delivering an address at the Rencontres de UDECAM event organised by the media agencies organisation of that name, De Tavernost said that Salto would be initially available as an OTT TV offering, without being distributed to TVs via boxes.

At Médias en Seine, De Tavernost expressed regret about the conditions demanded by the country’s competition watchdog to secure approval for the Salto project.