Stéphane Richard, the company’s chief executive, also had said he would not work with Netflix, fearful
that Orange would become a “Trojan horse,” potentially helping the streaming service gain a global following, only to then cast Orange aside.
The company’s partnerships with cable and cellphone operators worldwide give it almost instantaneous access to potential new users without having to spend a fortune on advertising
and distribution deals in markets where its brand and content are often still relatively unknown.
But in the end, he said, “we got a deal done.”
Such negotiations have become increasingly commonplace for Netflix as its global ambitions have taken the content
streaming service far from its California roots into markets across Europe, Latin America and Asia.
In response, late last year, Comcast decided to include the streaming service on its set-top
cable box, so people could watch Netflix without having to leave Comcast’s digital universe.
Orange has also entered into an undisclosed revenue-sharing pact in France, which has often
been wary of the potential for Netflix’s American shows to outmuscle local content.
Along with the typical back-and-forth about how much revenue each side would receive from the deal, Orange was concerned
that Netflix, whose European headquarters are in Amsterdam, had not signed on to French rules requiring online video distributors to fund local-language content.
