Netflix Sets Out Why It’s Challenging French Funding Obligations & Wants A Cap On Investment Rules; Prime Video Also Lodges Appeal
Netflix has published an op-ed — which you can read below — in which it lays out why it is challenging proposed new spending obligations on the streamer in France and why it wants to introduce an investment cap on streamer obligations in the territory.
First published in French national paper Le Monde, the op-ed by Pauline Dauvin, Vice President of Content, Netflix France, sets out why the Lupin streamer is appealing against new “diversity” rules being introduced by the EU and the French government requiring streamers to boost investment in animation, documentaries and live performance.
“These new rules cross a line,” claims the streaming giant. “They attempt to fix in law the exact genre balance of our slate, constrain our ability to back other types of French works – drama, comedy, unscripted – and do so only for streamers, while traditional broadcasters are spared.”
The Lupin backer says that “after an unsuccessful informal appeal, Netflix, alongside other streaming services, has filed appeals before France’s Council of State” against the rules.
A report out of France this morning by Satellifacts claims that Prime Video and Disney+ are also appealing the new regulations. A spokesperson for Prime confirmed this to us this morning, noting:
“Our action before the Conseil d’État does not call into question our commitment to French creative production — quite the opposite. It aims to ensure a regulatory framework that is balanced, fair, and legally sound, in the interest of audiences, creators, and the industry…Adding new constraints, when the obligations under the SMAD decree are already the heaviest in the European Union, risks weakening this positive momentum rather than strengthening it.”
We have reached out to Disney.
The new funding rules in France are due to come in over the next couple of years and were brought about following lobbying by author and producer groups, especially in animation.
In its op-ed, Netflix goes on to suggest that without a spending cap its role in the territory could become reduced, a line it has also taken in other European territories with spending obligations.
“In parallel, we have raised concerns about the overall level of investment obligations in France and are arguing that, over time, there needs to be a cap: not to reduce our role, but to make sure it remains sustainable and aligned with what audiences actually want to watch. This legal challenge on the diversity rules is one concrete chapter in that broader conversation.”
In March of this year Netflix lost an appeal in Belgium over spending obligations. In June, EMEA chief Larry Tanz hit out against new streamer obligations in Germany and warned against a “one size fits all approach” to rights retention that risks benefitting huge indies backed by “private equity or sovereign wealth.”
Netflix currently invests €250 million per year in French series, documentaries and films. Tanz has committed to breaking the streamer’s spend in Europe next year and the year after that. But the studio is increasingly active in lobbying against European rules over investment.
Netflix also lodged an appeal last year with France’s Council of State taking aim at the country’s windowing regulations, which it considers a thorn in its side in France, and the main reason it doesn’t compete at the Cannes Film Festival in Competition.
Read the Netflix op-ed below (translated from the French original by the streamer):
More obligations, less diversity: why we’re challenging France’s new rules By Pauline Dauvin, Vice President of Content, Netflix France
Netflix now invests over €250 million every year in French series, films and documentaries, making us one of the leading private partners in the country’s creative output. Since our launch in France in 2014, we have made more than 160 local films and series – from Lupin to Under Paris, Class Act to Ad Vitam – and contributed over €2 billion to the French creative economy, supporting tens of thousands of jobs. As a committed supporter of French culture, we have spent the past decade working hand in hand with local creators to build a slate that showcases French excellence, supports new voices and sparks national conversations.
Our documentaries have ignited major debates – from the Cantat case to The Bus: A French Football Mutiny and the Grégory affair – shifting perspectives on issues that matter. In animation, we have highlighted French talent and craft, from Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight, created by Alain Chabat, to the global success of Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai, made in Angoulême. We are proud of this track record: it is proof that when French creators have the freedom to tell the stories they believe in, audiences respond.
It is precisely that freedom that is now at risk. In 2026, new “diversity” rules were introduced in the AVMS decree to double overnight subscription streaming services’ obligation to invest in just three genres: animation, documentaries and live performance. That might sound positive, especially given the work we already do in these areas. In reality, it abruptly doubles our compulsory investment in these genres, applies only to streaming services and locks in a rigid editorial blueprint that ignores what audiences actually watch.
We already have obligations to support animation and creative documentaries, including specific sub‑quotas for French‑language and independent works. But these new rules cross a line. They attempt to fix in law the exact genre balance of our slate, constrain our ability to back other types of French works – drama, comedy, unscripted – and do so only for streamers, while traditional broadcasters are spared. When regulation starts programming individual services, “diversity” becomes a checklist and viewers lose.
And the impact goes far beyond Netflix. When obligations are piled ever higher on one group of players, it drives up costs across the board, pushes more and more of the funding burden onto foreign streamers, and leaves everyone with less room and incentive to take creative risks. In a market where inflation and production costs are already rising, that is a recipe for a fragile ecosystem: fewer bold bets, more box‑ticking to satisfy rules, and growing dependence on a handful of services to carry an unsustainable share of the load.
That is why, after an unsuccessful informal appeal, Netflix, alongside other streaming services, has filed appeals before France’s Council of State. This is not about escaping our responsibilities or dismantling France’s cultural exception. It is about defending a principle that matters to every creator and every viewer: genuine creative freedom, supported by rules that are fair, proportionate and non‑discriminatory.
The stakes for this decree are clear. If this diversity sub‑quota is allowed to stand, it will set a precedent for increasingly prescriptive and asymmetric rules, concentrated on streamers, that push the whole system away from audience needs and creative judgment and towards regulatory micromanagement. In a market where production costs and inflation are already rising, loading ever more rigid obligations onto a single group of players is not a sustainable way to fund French stories.
Our message is simple. We want to keep delighting audiences in France and around the world with a variety of incredible French stories. But to do that in a sustainable way, we need a clear and balanced framework that respects editorial freedom and treats all major players – streamers and traditional channels alike – on a level playing field. “Diversity” cannot be reduced to fixed percentages imposed on one part of the ecosystem. True diversity is the result of a wide, evolving mix of content shaped by creators, not by rigid sub‑quotas.
That is also why, in parallel, we have raised concerns about the overall level of investment obligations in France and are arguing that, over time, there needs to be a cap: not to reduce our role, but to make sure it remains sustainable and aligned with what audiences actually want to watch. This legal challenge on the diversity rules is one concrete chapter in that broader conversation.
France’s cultural exception has helped generations of artists push boundaries and find their place in the world. In the streaming age, protecting that ambition means ensuring that rules remain sustainable and coherent, not endlessly adding new obligations that look virtuous on paper but undermine the very pluralism they claim to defend.
That is the spirit in which Netflix is appealing France’s new diversity obligations. And it is the spirit in which we want to keep working with French creators, regulators and industry partners: to secure a regulatory framework that truly protects sovereignty, strengthens the whole ecosystem and keeps audiences at the centre of everything we do.
