Advanced Television

Hastings: ‘Canal+ will become web service’

August 27, 2014

From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Traditional and linear television will eventually disappear predicts Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Speaking to French magazine Telerama ahead of the launch of its service in France, Hastings commented: “Linear TV will continue a little thanks to sporting events, but within twenty years it will have collapsed when all this will be fully available on the web. Pay-TV group Canal+….will also turn into a web media”.

Asked about the French market, which is currently reorganising itself to limit the impact of Netflix, Hastings considers his service will start off as a complementary offer to existing platforms.

He adds that relationships with Canal+, which already buys Netflix series such as House of Cards, “are very direct, and this competition will be very positive for the consumers.”

Hastings also revealed that Netflix will produce series in France, with a political drama set in Marseilles already in negotiation with a French producer. “We will create jobs in France,” Hastings said.

According to Hastings, the French media rule which prevents a movie being available via SVoD until 36 months after its theatrical release “is not a problem because we above all stream series which are not submitted to this rule”.

Besides its OTT service, Netflix is still talking with French operators Orange, SFR and Free to get a distribution via STBs.

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