French IPTV operator SFR is the first in France to offer Netflix on its Android-powered Evolution STBs.
However, the service will initially only be accessible to the around 100,000 customers who subscribe to the operator’s Red package, the company’s top-tier product. The Android STBs give access to Google Play and has been on the market sicned June 2014.
Despite a reluctant market, Netflix has been very successful in securing distribution agreements with the three major IPTV operators in the France, SFR, Bouygues and Orange. The latter two will start to offer Netflix to their customers some time in November.
Concerns that Netflix will find France a difficult market to crack may already be proving to be wide of the mark, with the service attracting more than 100,000 subscribers in its first 15 days in the country. Meanwhile, a number of French parties including TF1, Orange and Canal+, are trying to put together a French challenger to the US SVOD service.
