The boss of public broadcaster France Télévisions has admitted that closing the Salto platform was a “strategic mistake”.
The streaming platform was jointly run by France Télévisions, M6 and TF1, it closed a year ago this week.
Stopping Salto was “not my choice, nor the choice of Nicolas [de Tavernost, outgoing chairman of M6]”, Delphine Ernotte Cunci, Director General of France Télévisions, said at the Séries Mania Forum in Lille, suggesting the man behind the decision was the TF1 CEO Rodolphe Belmer. “From my point of view, it was a strategic mistake. I hope we can recover from it.”
Since then attention has moved to a joint platform in the mould of the UK’s Freely, which goes beyond that of just an app, and into the delivery of an entire IPTV service and ecosystem for public service broadcasters.
“This common application will allow the French to continue watching channels in an ergonomic way,” said Nicolas de Tavernost. “The English showed us the way with Freely.”
