While Canal+ has just agreed to invest more than $1.1 billion in 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.
