The clock is ticking for Disney+ in France.

15 days before their Canal+ deal expires.

As much as they wanna downplay this, it's a big deal for them because :

→ From January 2025, no 1st Pay TV window of Disney movies, Disney channels and Disney+ will be available to the 9.8M of C+ subscribers (2023).

They claim they will look for new distribution opportunities but options are limited:

→ There's no one else in France who can take on Disney's 1st Pay TV window titles.

→ As is, Disney can either decide to stop releasing movies in French theaters or wait 17 months after theatrical release (in accordance with the French media chronology).

→ Distribution wise, they're live on all the major platforms. The only one left is Amazon Prime Video but it would be a shocker to see them join Amazon Channels like Max or Apple TV+ did.

They could hard-bundle D+ with French telcos. Worth it for them?

There's one last option.

Disney becomes its own 1st Pay window.

Here's how:

→ Fork out more to finance French productions (Disney+ rumoured to be offering 55M€ per year vs 13M€ this year).

→ In exchange ask to release movies closer to the theatrical release.

Perfect timing, their deal with the French movie organisations ends in February 2025.

For reference :

→ Netflix spends 4% of its French net revenues and gets a 15-month window.

→ Canal+ commits to 190M€ per year (but tends to spend more) and gets a 6-month one.

My best bet is that Disney+ gets a 12-month window.

What's yours?

Until then, dear Canal+ subscribers, enjoy your last Disney movie with Inside out 2!

#streamingmedia