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French TV channels join forces to create Netflix rival

Three French television channels announced Friday that they are launching a new streaming site in an attempt to stop US giants Netflix and Amazon cutting into their audiences.

Published: 15 June 2018 12:18 CEST

French TV channels join forces to create Netflix rival

Photo: pincasso/Depositphotos

Public broadcaster France Televisions will team up with private channels TF1 and M6 for the new site, which has been named Salto.

“Through Salto the France Televisions, M6 and TF1 groups intend to offer an ambitious response to the new expectations of the public,” the channels said in a joint statement.

Like Netflix and Amazon, Salto will offer TV programmes and films under a monthly subscription which can be cancelled at any time.

The channels said the new platform would have “unparalleled variety”, offering both live programming and catch-up TV shows that can be watched at any time.

TF1 and France Televisions account for 75 percent of TV production in France, and the three companies said they were open to other channels joining the project.

They have yet to say when the new service will launch and how much it will cost, but a source close to the talks said it will likely be priced at five euros ($5.80) a month.

Salto will also need to work out “the best way of working with the existing free platforms” run by TF1, France Televisions and M6, the statement said.

Channels in other countries have already teamed up to form similar joint streaming sites, such as Hulu in the United States, formed by Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox, Comcast and AT&T.

French channels are acutely aware of the draw of US platforms such as Netflix, which has attracted 3.5 million subscribers in four years, according to the Liberation newspaper.

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Meet the Spanish rapper bringing flamenco and bossa nova into hip-hop

Spanish rapper Anton Alvarez known as 'C. Tangana' poses in Madrid on April 29, 2021. Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP

The 30-year-old has emerged as one of the world’s biggest Spanish-language stars since his third album “El Madrileno” — the Madrilenian — came out in February. That ranks him alongside his superstar ex-girlfriend Rosalia, the Grammy-winning Catalan singer with whom he has co-written several hits.

C. Tangana, whose real name is Anton Alvarez Alfaro, has come a long way since a decade ago when he became known as a voice of disillusioned Spanish youth in the wake of the financial crisis.These days his rap is infused with everything from reggaeton and rumba to deeply traditional styles from Spain and Latin America, with a voice often digitised by autotune.

“It’s incredible that just when my music is at its most popular is exactly when I’m doing something a bit more complex, more experimental and less
trendy,” he told AFP in an interview.

And he is unashamed to be appealing to a wider audience than previously: his dream is now to make music “that a young person can enjoy in a club or someone older can enjoy at home while cooking”.

‘People are tired’

The rapper, who sports a severe semi-shaved haircut and a pencil moustache, has worked with Spanish flamenco greats including Nino De Elche, Antonio Carmona, Kiko Veneno, La Hungara and the Gipsy Kings.

In April he brought some of them together for a performance on NPR’s popular “Tiny Desk Concert” series, which has already drawn nearly six million
views on YouTube.

Shifting away from trap, one of rap’s most popular sub-genres, and venturing into a more traditional repertoire was a dangerous move — especially for someone with a young fanbase to whom rumba, bossa nova and bolero sound old-fashioned.

“I think people are tired. They’ve had enough of the predominant aesthetic values that have previously defined pop and urban music,” he said.

Parts of his latest album were recorded in Latin America with Cuban guitarist Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club, Uruguayan
singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler, Mexican folk artist Ed Maverick and Brazil’s Toquinho, one of the bossa nova greats.

“What struck me most everywhere I went was the sense of tradition and the way people experienced the most popular music, and I don’t mean pop,” he said.

A new direction

C. Tangana started out in 2006 rapping under the name Crema. When the global economic crisis swept Spain a few years later, hard-hitting trap was
the perfect way to voice the angst of his generation. But after more than a decade of rapping, things changed.

“When I was heading for my 30s, I hit this crisis, I was a bit fed up with what I was doing… and decided to give voice to all these influences that I
never dared express as a rapper,” he said.

The shift began in 2018 with “Un veneno” (“A poison”) which came out a year after his big hit “Mala mujer” (“Bad woman”).

And there was a return to the sounds of his childhood when he used to listen to Spanish folk songs at home, raised by a mother who worked in
education and a journalist father who liked to play the guitar. The Latin American influences came later.

“It started when I was a teenager with reggaeton and with bachata which were played in the first clubs I went to, which were mostly Latin,” he said.

Studying philosophy at the time, he wrote his first raps between stints working in call centres or fast-food restaurants.

As to what comes next, he doesn’t know. But one thing he hopes to do is collaborate with Natalia Lafourcade, a Mexican singer who dabbles in folk, rock and pop — another jack of all musical trades.

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