France’s new combined TV streaming service Salto is due to beta launch on June 3rd ahead of a full roll-out during September. However, a bank report suggests it remains cautious on other European free-to-air broadcasters’ prospects because of their limited libraries and lack of marketing firepower.

CEO Thomas Follin has already announced that the French OTT platform will offer around 15,000 hours of programming which should build to 20,000 hours by the end of this year. Prices of Salto’s monthly subscription should revolve around €5-10 (vs Netflix’s €7.99-15.99 per month). The aim, the platform says, is to “complement” the offering of Netflix as opposed to compete. At this stage it is unclear on which IPTV boxes the service will be available.

Analysts from investment bank Exane/BNPP say that while the September launch is later than they had expected, it was good news that all the various EC and competition approvals had been achieved.

However, the bank’s report states: “Overall we remain cautious on the European FTA broadcasters’ streaming plans due to the lack of marketing firepower and content libraries. However, we have a preference for combined SVoD plans such as France’s Salto, which should help on the competitive dynamic front.”

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