- calendar_today August 30, 2025
A business that brought the “big screen” to everyone’s smaller screens is now bringing the old-school channels back. Netflix is launching a bold new partnership with one of France’s biggest broadcasters, TF1 Group, bringing its channels directly to its French subscribers next summer.
A New step in the Convergence of Streaming and Traditional TV
Five TF1 linear channels will be available on Netflix to its French subscribers. In addition, 30,000 hours of on-demand content will be added to the platform by 2026, meaning the French will have access to everything from reality shows like The Voice to scripted dramas, sports, and entertainment on the streaming platform in real-time or on demand.
According to the Financial Times, which first reported the deal, it’s a deal that feels a little backwards looking to an earlier age of TV — but it’s actually a savvy play for both companies. It helps Netflix stay top of mind for consumers who may increasingly be faced with more options as streaming wars heat up. It helps TF1, one of the country’s biggest players, tap into a huge new audience while bolstering advertising dollars.
However, Netflix and TF1 have partnered on projects like the historical French drama Les Combattantes (Women at War) in the past. This is a different deal altogether.
No specifics on the agreement have been released, but both sides seemed eager to emphasize that this isn’t just an experiment.
“Teaming up with France’s leading commercial broadcaster gives us the opportunity to provide our members in France with even more reasons to come to Netflix every day, and to stay with us for all their entertainment,” said Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters in a statement.
“This is not only a means of accessing all the TF1 Group’s programs but also of providing a channel that we know the French love and that makes them travel in time. By complementing our catalog with all the best programs, our French subscribers will have everything they need to spend more time on Netflix.”
The deal is beneficial for TF1, too. The company will still run ads on the channels that will stream on Netflix, meaning that this adds a new avenue for the advertiser to reach Netflix’s massive base of users. That can be monetized through a cut of the ad spend.
“It’s an unprecedented agreement, and it represents a true and concrete commitment to respond to the desire of TF1 Group to increase our content and our access to the growing number of Internet users,” said Rodolphe Belmer, CEO of TF1. “In this way, our content will reach even more people in a new context where the media ecosystem is increasingly fragmented.”
“The complementarity between TF1’s platform, TF1+ and Netflix is essential in a universe that is increasingly turned towards streaming. Netflix, as one of the world’s leading players, will bring our content to an unprecedented number of people.”
Belmer acknowledged that linear TV was in a “secular decline” and had attempted to combat that with other measures, including advertising efforts. But ultimately, “the gigantic dynamic of Netflix” makes this partnership attractive to the company.
Linear TV is not dead: it’s adapting
The move comes as linear TV and TV streaming become more intertwined. The pandemic, for instance, brought a surge in TV, and linear networks are starting to partner with streaming services, particularly SVODs like YouTube TV, that are challenging the dominance of Hulu and others.
Nielsen’s Q2 2022 Total Daily TV Viewer figure for May 2022 reveals that streaming has topped linear and cable TV for the first time since Nielsen began reporting. Linear and streaming are merging to a degree, as big media owners like Viacom are turning to platforms like Pluto and Freevee, or like Peacock and Paramount+, to retain subscribers.
However, it’s a challenge for many smaller networks to keep pace, particularly in a post-pandemic world. And for those that aren’t succeeding in streaming, advertising dollars remain essential. It’s not clear whether this move will eventually pave the way for other such deals — Netflix is being coy on that front, at least for now.
“We will certainly look at this,” said Peters. “But I think, to the extent that we can make that case, it’s not yet there. It really depends on what happens as we’re continuing to get closer to launch, but we want to see how it works before we make any assumptions or decisions.”
“We do want to think broadly about all the potential opportunities. We haven’t ruled out anything, but this is a deal that makes a lot of sense. So we’re putting a lot of resources behind it.”
The move may help Netflix better achieve a regulatory requirement that calls for SVOD services to reinvest 20-25% of revenue from France back into local content. In that way, the move may help Netflix hit the targets while not negatively impacting viewers.
The numbers are there. According to data provided by Nielsen, the broadcaster’s TV channels reach around 58 million people per month. Its streaming platform, TF1+, reaches another 35 million users each month. Netflix has over 10 million subscribers in France, according to co-CEO Ted Sarandos in 2022.
But there’s more room to grow. The company has the opportunity to expand beyond France, if this move is successful, or to expand into other territories. And it wouldn’t be surprising to see a repeat play in the U.S., where viewership of linear channels has been declining for years.
“Look, I think we would definitely be open to that. Again, it’s early days,” said Peters. “But we’re really excited about it. So we’re not looking at it that way. I think we’re really looking at it as just what this means to the French audience and our subscribers. I think it’ll be something we’ll think about more once we get to the other side of it.”
“We do know there are a lot of people that see us as their TV network, but what does that mean? Well, if they’re watching TF1, then that means they can watch that content, which will now be on Netflix.”
