TF1’s New Boss Rodolphe Belmer on Launch of Ad-Supported Streaming Service, Growth Opportunities in Europe

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent As CEO of Canal+ for more than a decade, Rodolphe Belmer pushed the pay TV giant to make original scripted content — a bet that paid off with award-winning shows such “Spiral” and “The Returned.” So what does he have planned at TF1, the French television company he took over last year?

From his office on the top floor of a 14-level skyscraper, with a panoramic view that includes the Eiffel Tower and La Defénse in the distance, Belmer reveals that TF1 hopes to expand its reach into other European countries, while launching an ad-supported streaming service on Jan.

8. “We want to penetrate all French-speaking markets, including Belgium,” he says. “Let’s not forget that French is the fifth-most-spoken language in the world.” And Belmer recognizes that TF1 has suffered some setbacks.

Its planned merger with M6, the country’s second-biggest private TV network, failed to gain antitrust approval in 2022. TF1 also pulled out of Salto, a subscription-based streamer it created with France Télévisions and M6, after the service failed to take off. “The antitrust board said no, so we’ve crossed it out,” says Belmer. “Our focus now is on our free streaming service because we think there’s a big strategic opportunity to create value for TF1.” Some have dreamed of creating a European streaming giant on the level of Netflix, but Belmer, who is a numbers-obsessed realist, is looking in a different direction.