Inside Netflix and Prime Video’s Fight to Reshape France’s Streaming Rules: ‘It’s an Unsustainable Equation’

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While Canal+ has just agreed to invest more than $1.1 billionin French and European films over the next five years, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are fighting in court and behind closed doors to loosen France’s streaming

regulations.

Both services have launched separate legal challenges before France’s Conseil d’état, the country’s highest administrative court, while also negotiating with regulators and the film industry over the future of France’s investment and windowing rules.

Since January 2022, subscription streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ have been required to invest 20% of their annual French revenue in local film and television production under France’s implementation of the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

France’s film industry also negotiated separate agreements with individual streamers governing both their cinema investment commitments and their place in the country’s windowing system. Netflix’s agreement expired at the end of 2025 and has not been renewed.

“For us, it’s an unsustainable equation: more obligations, a less favorable release window, and the latest Canal+ agreement locks in the current system,” a source close to Netflix said.

Although its industry agreement has lapsed, Netflix’s investment obligations have not. The platform must still invest 20% of its French revenue in local production, while its release window has slipped from 15 months back to the default 17 months after negotiations over a new agreement stalled. Free-to-air broadcasters gain access to films just 22 months after their theatrical release, leaving Netflix only a five-month exclusivity period despite its growing financial commitments. That windowing rule explains why Netflix is skipping Cannes every year as the festival requires every film competing for a Palme d’Or to come out in French theaters.

Having failed to secure a 12-month release window, Netflix is now shifting the fight. Rather than focusing primarily on earlier access to films, the company has begun publicly calling for a cap on mandatory investment obligations.

Netflix now invests more than $287 million annually in French films, series and documentaries, including roughly $68 million in movies that are theatrically released, such as Gilles Lellouche’s Cannes-premiering romance “Beating Hearts” (pictured above). It’s also working with renowned French filmmakers on Netflix original movies, for instance Jacques Audiard’s next movie. The company argues that, unless the rules change, U.S. streaming services could account for nearly half of all financing for French production by 2030, according to estimates cited by Le Monde.

Prime Video’s battle has centered on a different issue — how its investment obligations should be calculated. Unlike other streaming services, Prime Video is bundled with Amazon Prime, making it difficult to isolate the value of the video service from other benefits such as free delivery and music streaming. Its investment convention with France’s media regulator ARCOM expired only days ago and was just extended for another six months while negotiations continue.

What’s currently being debated is a revised proposal that would give the streamer the option to invest $103 million annually across cinema and audiovisual production for a window greater than 12 months, or invest $126 million for a window at 12 months, according to a source close to the discussions.

Prime Video ideally wants Disney’s nine-month slot. But ARCOM has denied it, saying that if Amazon wants Disney’s release window, it should make a comparable commitment to financing theatrical films. Disney, whose recent acquisitions include Ladj Ly’s anticipated period epic adventure film “Dumas: Black Devil,”currently directs 14% of its French revenue toward cinema investment, well above the regulatory minimum.

If it fails to reach an agreement, Prime Video defaults to the same position as Netflix, with access to films 17 months after theatrical release while contributing only the regulatory minimum toward French production.

Canal+‘s recently signed $1.1 billion agreement with France’s film industry has raised the stakes even further. In exchange for its investment commitment, the pay-TV giant keeps its privileged six-month release window — the earliest currently available in France. But the agreement is tied to the current balance of the country’s windowing system, meaning that any concession granted to Prime Video or Netflix would clash with Canal+.

If another major streaming service such as Prime Video or Netflix were granted access to films within 12 months, Canal+’s agreement would automatically trigger a three-month renegotiation period with the film industry. Canal+ would then risk losing its six-month exclusivity and instead revert to a nine-month release window, according to a source involved in negotiations.

Back in court, Netflix is challenging the latest version of France’s windowing system at the Conseil d’état, arguing that it creates an uneven playing field. While Disney+ secured a nine-month release window by committing a higher percentage of its French revenue to theatrical films, Netflix says it invests more in absolute value yet remains stuck at 17 months.

Prime Video has joined Netflix in challenging the legal mechanism that extends France’s windowing rules to streaming platforms that did not sign the underlying industry agreement, arguing they should not be bound by terms they never accepted.

Separately, Netflix has launched another legal challenge against recent amendments to France’s SMAD decree requiring streaming platforms to dedicate part of their audiovisual investment specifically to documentaries, animation and live performance. Netflix France’s VP of content Pauline Dauvin penned an open letter published in Le Monde, warning that these sub-quotasare turning cultural diversity into a “checklist,” hurting their editorial freedom and unfairly singling out streamers because comparable obligations do not apply to traditional broadcasters. No timetable has been set for either case, although decisions could come later this year or early next.

The fight is also shifting to Brussels, where the European Commission is preparing to review the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, and Netflix is lobbying for clearer limits on how far member states can go in imposing investment obligations on platforms. During a recent visit to Brussels, Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos also urged EU policymakers not to overlook YouTube,which he described as a “straightforward direct competitor” to streamers and broadcaster which isn’t subject to comparable investment obligations.