Netflix must support French content creation, says minister

Netflix will have to sign up to France’s content creation support regime if it launches in that country later this year, according to culture minister Aurélie Filipetti.

Filipetti told the Journal du Dimanche that she isn’t opposed to the subscription video-on-demand giant launching in France, especially if it helps combat video piracy, but that complying with the rules that oblige French distributors to help finance local content is a “sine qua non”.

Filipetti said that Netflix would have to support the maintenance of cultural diversity in the same was as cinema chains, TV channels and pay TV platforms by distributing a certain quota of French and European works. This could potentially lead to Netflix commissioning original content solely for the local French market – a strategy it has not followed in existing operational territories.

She said she believed Netflix would play according to the rules but that the government had “an arsenal of measures” at its disposal if it fails to do so.

There has been much speculation that Netflix is planning a French launch, possibly in September this year.