TV: France Télévisions programs are coming to Prime Video

Prime Video, the streaming service from American giant Amazon, has been streaming France Télévisions channels and content from its france.tv platform since Thursday, in a surprise partnership that aims to enable the public group to reach a wider, younger audience.

In a joint statement, the two actors mentioned "a historic distribution agreement" , which comes two weeks after the announcement by the French audiovisual group TF1 and Netflix of a similar collaboration starting in 2026.

Prime Video subscribers in France can now access live France Télé channels and "nearly 20,000 france.tv content items" at no additional cost. Specifically, the Prime Video homepage in France offers a dedicated space for this content, making it accessible to subscribers without having to change the interface.

France Télévisions CEO Delphine Ernotte-Cunci is pleased that "with this unprecedented distribution method, our group is taking a historic step to strengthen the visibility of its public service offering." This should "allow all audiences to rediscover and discover the unique richness of france.tv in new environments," she insists, while digital technology and brand awareness have become priorities for the audiovisual group, which is called upon to rejuvenate its audiences.

French people aged 15-24 are the biggest consumers of video content: they say they watch 5 hours 21 minutes of video content every day, but mainly on social media (2 hours), ahead of free live TV (one hour) and subscription videos on demand (one hour), according to a 2025 study by the audiovisual regulator, Arcom.

For his part, Christophe Deguine, general manager of Prime Video in France, explains that he is "constantly looking for new ways to expand the range of quality content offered to our customers and to confirm Prime Video as the number 1 destination for entertainment."

The amount and duration of the agreement are confidential. This major alliance with one of the GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) is striking, even though Delphine Ernotte-Cunci has always said she is ready to establish "respectful partnerships" with streaming giants. In recent years, a first series, Cœurs noirs , was, for example, co-produced by France Télévisions and Amazon Prime Video, which broadcast it first.

France.tv is the leading free streaming platform in France, with 42.9 million unique monthly visitors in June, a new record. The platform offers live broadcasts from the channels France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5 and franceinfo, programs in "preview" and "replay" , such as the daily series "Un si grand soleil" and soon the entertainment series Intervilles or "Drag Race France All Stars" , as well as exclusive content.

Online retail giant Amazon launched its video-on-demand service in France in 2016. Amazon Prime, which offers free and expedited delivery and access to streaming movies and series, costs €6.99 per month or €69.90 per year. The service has 200 million subscribers worldwide.

According to the latest edition of the Guide to Video-on-Demand Channels and Services, published by industry players, some 4.6 million French people used Netflix daily and 1.4 million Prime Video in the fourth quarter of 2023.

"American services and content dominate the French market" for subscription video on demand, the report emphasizes. France Télévisions, which is on the offensive in the cultural sphere, can also, through this partnership with Prime Video, promote the distribution of French creations.

For its part, Netflix will broadcast TF1 group channels and TF1+ content starting in the summer of 2026. This partnership is a world first, as the streaming giant has never before opened its platform to another operator. In addition to its own catalog, Prime Video already offers, for additional subscriptions, access to other platforms such as Max, Paramount+, Ciné + OCS, Universal +, and MGM +, alongside 43 additional channels.