Canal+ could very soon have a new challenger in the media timeline: Disney+. The parent company appears determined to invest much more in French cinema, in exchange for a better place to broadcast films in streaming.
It is an underground war that is looming on the horizon: formerly partners, Canal+ and Disney could become head-on adversaries in France. The reason? The American entertainment giant appears determined to take a more important role in financing French cinema, and thus become a more direct rival to the encrypted channel in this niche.
It is Le Film Français which reports this information in its edition of December 6, 2024. We learn there that discussions are underway with the cinema community, with among other things the prospect of having a better place in the media chronology for Disney+. To obtain it, Disney would commit to increasing its contribution to the creation of the 7th art.
Currently, the 2024 version of the media timeline places Disney+ on a fairly late window. After a film is released in theaters, the American streaming service must wait 17 months before being able to offer it for broadcast on its platform. On the internet scale, it’s a long time, even if D+ is better off than before (36 months).
For its part, Canal+ is on a much shorter window – 6 months – due to the historical and substantial support that the encrypted channel provides to French cinema. A particularity which is one of the reasons for the success of the 4th channel, with sport (this is however a little less true today, at least when it comes to football).
Films on Disney+ from 9 or even 6 months after their theatrical release?
For Disney+ to significantly shorten its waiting period, and to position itself, for example, on a 9-month window (an option which is being discussed), or even six months, the annual investment could be multiplied by more than four. We are talking about an envelope which would increase from 13 to 55 million euros.
This remains far from Canal+, which finances cinema to the tune of 200 million euros per year, but it transforms Disney+ into a much more important interlocutor. Above all, this makes French cinema less dependent on Canal+ and, for the public, this paves the way for recent films to arrive more quickly on Disney+.
For Disney, better positioning on the media timeline is one more argument to brandish to Internet users, by making Disney+ more attractive. It could even become a credible alternative to MyCanal for accessing recent films. Behind these thoughts, there is the issue of keeping and obtaining subscribers.
In any case, there is a window of opportunity for Disney. The current version of the media timeline came into effect on February 10, 2022 for a period of three years. A new version of this mechanism must be taken in February 2025. The lines will therefore shift in the months to come, as will the balance of power.
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