‘French Netflix’ Salto launch likely to be delayed till autumn

The full launch of ‘French Netflix’ Salto could be delayed until the autumn, but a soft-launch of the service – a JV between France Télévisions, TF1 and M6 Group – is still on the cards for June 3, as initially planned.

A spokesman for Salto told French press that the impact of the coronavirus crisis on production and delivery of content meant that Salto was likely to launch in private beta-test mode only in June, with a commercial launch pushed back from September until later in the autumn.

The June launch date had initially been described as a public ‘test launch’ by Salto chief Thomas Follin. Salto has already been subject to multiple delays as a result of European and French regulatory reviews.

Salto, when it arrives, will join an already crowded market that includes not only Netflix and Amazon Prime Video but Disney+, the launch of which is now scheduled for April 7 after a delay was agreed because of the pressure on bandwidth occasioned by the current crisis.

According to financial paper Les Echos, Salto could launch with a reduced price from that initially envisaged in order to compete with other streaming services.

In other French news, major media companies have grouped together to form a new digital-terrestrial TV-focused associated to promote the interests of channels in shaping the modernisation of the country’s digital-terrestrial TV platform.

Altice Media, TF1, M6, NRJ, L’Équipe, Arte and Canal+ have banded together to create the Association Technique des Editeurs de la TNT (ATET),

The group has kicked off by filing a submission to the public consultation on the future of the platform announced by media regulator the CSA on March 10.