Netflix is bringing live broadcast TV to its platform. Starting summer 2025, Netflix will start offering French subscribers five linear broadcast channels from France’s largest commercial broadcaster, TF1 Group.

It’s a dramatic shift for a company that has helped dismantle the traditional TV business. Netflix is now embracing the concept.

Netflix and TF1: Partners for success

As first reported by the Financial Times, Netflix and TF1 will bring a familiar television experience to the streaming platform. In addition to the five live channels, Netflix subscribers will also have on-demand access to more than 30,000 hours of TF1 content by the summer of 2026.

Content will include hits like reality show The Voice, scripted dramas, and live sports. It will allow for greater choice and broaden Netflix’s content offerings in France.

This deal marks the first major collaboration between Netflix and TF1, though the companies have worked together in the past. They co-produced the French historical series Les Combattantes (International title: Women at War). But this partnership is different. This is a deep integration of live TV into the streaming platform, something few others have dared.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, given the scale of the partnership, this was a long-term deal.

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters called it an opportunity to grow engagement, an important metric now that the company no longer shares subscriber numbers. “Teaming up with France’s top broadcaster,” Peters said, “will give French consumers even more reasons to come to Netflix every day and to stay with us for all their entertainment.”

For TF1, this is a significant partnership in terms of reach and ad sales. Its live channels will remain ad-supported, giving TF1 an opportunity to reach more eyeballs and appeal to advertisers.

“This alliance is fully in line with our ambition to pursue our strategic development in a digital environment,” TF1 CEO Rodolphe Belmer said. “As the dynamics of viewing habits shift towards on-demand consumption and fragmentation of audiences intensifies, this alliance, unprecedented in scale, will enable our high-quality content to reach unparalleled audiences.”

He added that linear TV was in “secular decline,” but this partnership could allow it to stay relevant by “leveraging the huge growth momentum of Netflix.”

Regulatory Gains and a Huge Opportunity

In addition to the business benefits of the deal, Netflix gains regulatory compliance. As a result of French regulations, streaming platforms must reinvest between 20 to 25% of revenue earned in France into local content. The TF1 deal allows Netflix to fulfill its regulatory obligation while growing its library with more well-known and relatable content.

In terms of viewership, there is a big opportunity. TF1’s broadcast channels have 58 million monthly viewers, while its streaming platform TF1+ has 35 million users. By comparison, Netflix has less than 10 million subscribers in France, said co-CEO Ted Sarandos in 2022.

This partnership could bring TF1’s traditional audience to Netflix — and vice versa — forming a feedback loop of engagement and reach.

And this could just be the beginning. Peters noted that the company would “monitor” the performance of the TF1 deal before seeking to do similar deals in other territories. If successful, it could be replicated in other European markets and perhaps even the U.S.

But consumer behavior is changing. According to Nielsen, streaming now makes up 44.8% of all TV viewing, above both cable (24.1%) and broadcast (20.1%) for the first time since Nielsen began tracking in 2021.

It’s a big shift, and one other streamers are making as well. Services like YouTube TV already offer live linear channels, but this is a deeper integration of live TV into the streaming experience.

Netflix is no longer just disrupting TV. It’s becoming TV.

With the TF1 deal, Netflix is poised to be the one-stop shop for all types of content — whether that’s binge-worthy series or live sports and current events.

For many French viewers, Netflix already feels like television. Now, it’s about to be television.