In May, Salto will be offered as an “Amazon channel”. The French streaming service will be accessible from the Amazon Prime Video application, still at 6.99 euros per month.
Salto, the French streaming service designed to offer an alternative to American streaming services, is joining forces with an American streaming service. On the occasion of a press conference dedicated to its future productions, Amazon announced on Tuesday April 12 that it will market Salto in the form of an “Amazon channel”. The price remains the same as today, ie 6.99 euros per month.
Once subscribed, Amazon Prime Video users will be able to access the channels of TF1, France Télévisions and M6 directly in the Amazon application, with access to live and early replay (programs are coming sooner on Salto and Amazon than on TV). The Salto app becomes somewhat optional.
Salto bets on Amazon subscribers
Officially, Salto has 700,000 subscribers in France. Unofficially, it would rather be around 500,000. It’s rather encouraging, but not enough to compete with the American giants.
By opening the door to Amazon Prime Video, Salto officials clearly hope to boost its number of subscribers. Not having to download an additional application to access the replay of the major channels in HD could motivate some, especially since certain programs are available in advance on Salto. The streaming service also offers a catalog of films and series, including Harry Potter.
The model chosen by Salto is similar to that of Amazon Ligue 1, also offered in the form of an “Amazon Channel”. Prime Video subscribers do not have free access to Salto but are encouraged to subscribe to it, to unlock additional content in the app. One can imagine that thousands of people will be tempted to access content from TF1, France TV or M6 from Amazon Prime.
Asked by Le Figaro about the inconsistency for an anti-American streaming service to join an American streaming service, Salto officials explain that their vision is to favor “local content” and that they never had the ambition to replace Netflix and consorts ». We wouldn’t be surprised to see Salto join forces with other services, like Apple, which also offers channels in its TV application.
Finally, remember that if the merger project between TF1 and M6 sees the light of day, France Television has already announced that it would leave the ship. In a configuration where Salto becomes a kind of fusion between the replay of TF1 and M6, its presence on the big SVOD services would not be really surprising.
