French streamer Salto has failed – report

This appears to be the end of the road for Salto, the French streamer backed by the country’s biggest broadcasters.

Media in France are reporting that the ailing SVOD service – a joint venture between TF1, M6 and France Télévisions – will be shut down on Friday. The two-year-old streamer has failed to take off with audiences, and its subscriber base lags far behind rivals like Netflix.

Salto’s future has been hanging in the balance since November, when it looked like it would be sold or shut down.

The latter option appears to have prevailed as France Télévisions CEO Delphine Ernotte plans to ask for a “cessation of operations” and a “dissolution” of the company at an extraordinary committee meeting on Friday.

A report on local media website Puremedia claims that a Spanish company called Agile was exploring a takeover but was unable to reach an agreement with shareholders.

The report claims that after the dissolution of the company, its platform and technology assets could be sold to another company whose 800,000 subscribers would switch to another streamer. Amazon and Canal+ are tied to an agreement in this scenario. If it doesn’t, somersault comes to a halt.

Salto launched in October 2020 as a channel-backed alternative to Netflix, but behind-the-scenes drama and a lack of customer appetite have reduced its chances of catching on.

Two of its parents, TF1 Group and RTL-owned M6, failed to merge their broadcasting businesses and it was announced in November that they had resigned from the channel’s board. This left France Télévisions on its own.

Puremedias reported that “several dozen” employees have left Salto in the past six months.

Deadline has reached out to Salto representatives for comment.