Future Of TF1, M6 & France Télévisions’ Joint Streaming Platform Salto Hangs In The Balance

Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment is selling a majority stake to Paris-based Mediawan, Deadline has confirmed, following news several months ago that the company was seeking a buyer.

Good afternoon Insiders, happy Harry and Meghan-week. Sigh. It’s been a long one but it’s Max Goldbart here cutting through the noise and bringing you the royalest news and analysis of the past seven days.

Disney + Basic, a cheaper version of the 3-year-old streaming service, has officially gone live.

EXCLUSIVE: Mister Smith Entertainment has closed pre-sales in major territories on Logan Lerman and Phoebe Dynevor romantic comedy The Threesome.

With another winning performance at the World Cup, this time defeating Poland in the round of 16, the French national football team also led broadcaster TF1 to yet another ratings record for the year. An average 14.3 million viewers tuned in to see Les Bleus notch a 3-1 victory on Sunday, from the 4pm hour local time. This is the best score for all channels across 2022 and since July 2021. The audience share was 68.9%.

Prime Video has supplanted Netflix as the No. 1 subscription streaming outlet in the U.S. in an annual ranking compiled by research firm Parks Associates. (See full chart below.)

Netflix shut out all of its competitors from the Top 10 spots on Nielsen’s overall U.S. streaming chart the week of October 31 to November 6.

Prime Video France used a lavish dinner in Paris to unveil an agreement with several local entertainment unions and several new original films, shows and channels.

France’s 2-1 victory in the World Cup group stage over Denmark on Saturday evening drew an average 11.6 million viewers to TF1 from the 5PM hour local time. This is second best audience score of the year for all programs and across all channels in the Hexagon. Upon entering the tournament last week,  Les Bleus set a record for viewership in 2022, and since June 2021.

Every year, around 20 of the world’s most influential public broadcasters get together to discuss the issues of the day such as the challenge from global streaming platforms, rights and the very purpose of their existence. The Public Broadcasters International conference is part-debate, part-agenda setting and part-pep talk in truth.

Despite being plagued by injuries that knocked out some key players in past weeks, France entered the World Cup with a bang on Tuesday — and scored a ratings victory for TF1 at the same time. At home, an average 12.53 million viewers tuned in from 8 PM local time to watch Les Bleus defeat Australia’s Socceroos 4-1. 

Paramount+ today announced today that Top Gun: Maverick, the top grossing film of 2022, will be available to stream globally on the service beginning Thursday, Dec. 22 in the U.S. as well as in Canada, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and previously announced markets – the U.K. and Latin America. It will be available in South Korea and France in 2023.

DreamWorks has launched its debut channel in France.

The big winner at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2022 was Holy Spider, directed by Swedish-Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasi.

EXCLUSIVE: Creature feature Elevation, starring Anthony Mackie (Captain America), Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) and Maddie Hasson (Malignant), has pre-sold out of the AFM to 25+ markets for Mossbank.

The Les Arcs Film Festival will launch a new sidebar showcasing this year’s European entries to the Best International Feature Film Oscar category at its 14th edition, running December 10 to 17 in its namesake French Alps skiing resort home of Les Arcs.

OneGate Media Lands Sales Rights To Amazon’s ‘German Crime Story’