This resignation from the firm of Reed Hastings takes effect on October 27, the date on which the French manager becomes general manager of the TF1 group.
By Olivier Ubertalli
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SAccording to a source close to the Bouygues group, Rodolphe Belmer is resigning from the board of directors of Netflix. The American group must inform the policeman of the New York Stock Exchange, the Securities Exchange Commission, of this decision. Since the announcement of his appointment at the head of the TF1 Group, the French manager has wondered about the compatibility of the position with his status as administrator of Netflix. Knowing Reed Hastings for years, the former CEO of the Canal+ group and Eutelsat had the privilege of serving on the board of directors since January 2018. “This position at Netflix was his best calling card in the eyes of Martin Bouygues and TF1″, confides a good observer of the audiovisual sector.
He wasn’t sure that the two positions were incompatible. Some note that the current CEO of TF1 Group, Gilles Pélisson, is also a director of the consulting firm Accenture, chaired by Julie Sweet. But these are two different professions. However Netflix will launch, on November 3, a cheaper subscription offer including commercials in twelve countries, including France. For the sake of clarity, TF1, its shareholder Bouygues and Netflix have deemed it preferable that Rodolphe Belmer resign from his post as administrator of the American video streaming platform. This is to avoid any risk of conflict of interest.
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The American firm is likely to be very active in the coming weeks on the French advertising market, with its “Essential with advertising” offer, offered at 5.99 euros per month. Some advertisers could also decide to do some infidelity to the TF1 group, or, at least, reduce their investments on the front page and its other major channels (TMC, LCI, etc.) to direct them to Netflix France.
In production, on the other hand, TF1’s partnerships with Netflix and other platforms are set to multiply. Following the current fashion, TF1 wants to continue to offer original creations (series or films) with big budgets to viewers. The two companies have already teamed up to produce Marseilleswith Gérard Depardieu and Benoît Magimel, Charity Bazaar and, more recently, The Fighters. These series are first broadcast on TF1 before being available a few weeks later on Netflix.
At TF1, Rodolphe Belmer’s mission will be to quickly accelerate production and streaming.