Red button for Salto, France’s answer to Netflix

A streaming service viewed as France’s answer to Netflix closed down this week after fewer than three years in operation.

Salto was created in October 2020 in a collaboration between three channels: France Télévisions, TF1 and M6.

Billed as being a Gallic alternative to the likes of Netflix, it reported a deficit of €85.6 million in 2022.

Its fate was sealed last September when a merger between TF1 and M6 - which would have taken control of the platform - failed.

The three channels then decided to pull the plug on the venture, announcing its closure in February.

The platform broadcast for the last time on Monday (March 27).

Salto’s shareholders said “the complex and constrained governance of the alliance” between the three networks was a key reason for the platform’s failure.

They also criticised the wider French on-demand sector, speaking of “(the) refusal of most internet service providers to distribute the platform like the American platforms”.

Salto subscribers will receive refunds and former competitor Molotov has brazenly offered them a year’s free pass to their service.

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