Netflix Calls for Cap on French Content Investment Rules, Warning Current System Is ‘Unsustainable’

Netflix is calling for a cap on the mandatory investments it is required to make in French content as it pursues its lobbying push to gain earlier access to newly released movies.

The U.S. streaming giant, which has become one of the biggest private backers of French film and TV production, is warning that the current rules are becoming unsustainable, and argues that without changes, American platforms could end up accounting for nearly half of all financing for French creation by 2030, up from roughly a quarter in 2024, according to estimates cited by Le Monde.

“As an essential partner of French creation, and determined to remain one, we are sounding the alarm about the viability of the current rules for financing by broadcasters,” a Netflix spokesperson told the French newspaper.

At the heart of the debate is France’s 2021 decree implementing the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which has required subscription streamers such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ to invest 20% of their local revenue in French and European films and series. The country imposed some of the highest obligations on streamers in Europe.

As Brussels prepares to revisit the directive this fall, Netflix is hoping the European Commission will hear their call to limit investment requirements.

Netflix now invests more than €250 million ($332 million) a year in French series, documentaries and films, including roughly $66 million in cinema. The streamer says it produced or financed 20 to 25 French works annually and points that forcing that number to grow in line with revenue would be disproportionate to audience demand in France.

Netflix, which launched in France nearly 12 years ago, has become increasingly vocal in recent months about what it views as an imbalance in the French system. As Variety previously reported, Netflix lodged an appeal last year with France’s Council of State, taking aim at the country’s windowing regulations which force Netflix to wait twice as long as Disney+ before streaming films after their theatrical release, even though they are investing substantially more in local content overall.

Under France’s current windowing rules, Canal+ can stream films six months after rollout in theaters, while Disney+ secured a nine-month window after increasing its investment commitments on movies that come out in cinemas. Netflix, meanwhile, has a 15-month window and has been pushing to have it reduced to 12 months.

Those strict windowing regulations are the reason why Netflix is not allowed to present movies in competition at Cannes, since the festival requires a theatrical release for every Palme d’Or contender. It’s also why Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia” will not have a release on IMAX in France and will be released straight to Netflix.