Content's year of crossing Rubicons
By Ziad Kebbi
04-07-2025
Two key deals from last month look set to define the next chapter in the content business, as erstwhile rivals team up for the bigger win.
The year of 2024/25 is not just another chapter in the so-called “streaming wars.” This is the year when executives – not algorithms – started throwing out the old playbook and – like Julius Caesar did at the Rubicon River in 49BC – crossing lines that were previously considered sacred.
Last month, two decisions – one in France, one in Saudi Arabia – shook the media world harder than any tech “disruption” in a decade. If you’re still clinging to market share, territorial rights or your logo’s legacy value… consider this your wake-up call.
TF1’s big bet – from fortress to freeway
For half a century, TF1 Group has been the centre of gravity in French TV, defining “mainstream” and “mass reach.” This year, instead of circling the wagons in the face of competition from streamers, the company did the unthinkable. It decided to put its five live channels and all of its OTT service TF1+ directly on to Netflix. No more making audiences juggle between platforms, pay extra or remember which remote does what.
In one handshake, they turned aggregation – not fragmentation – into the winning move. This isn’t capitulation; it’s a bold calculation. In one swoop, TF1 taps into Netflix’s machine-learning-powered recommendation engine, bringing old hits to new eyes. Netflix cements its role as the only “must-have” platform for French households, and the viewer wins. No more app fatigue. No more hunting for shows. Just content, served frictionlessly.
But the move does raise a tough question: is this a blueprint for survival, or a signal of surrender? Will other legacy networks dare to “share the castle,” or are they doomed to be forgotten behind their own drawbridges? The fact that public broadcaster France Télévisions agreed to allow Amazon to carry its subscription streaming service France.tv on Prime Video in France, as reported by C21 today, suggests others are seeing the upside.
Thmanyah’s power play – toppling Goliath in the Gulf
Shift to Riyadh. In a market where “legacy” meant “entitlement,” Thmanyah – a company born from podcasts, digital docs and youth culture – stunned everyone by winning exclusive rights to Saudi Arabia’s top football league, The Saudi Pro League, for six years.
How? The company promised new tech, data overlays and “fan-first” user experience. It openly mocked its rivals as “dinosaurs” stuck in the analogue past. Overnight, the football monopoly was shattered; the fans got real choice and a taste of what 21st century sports coverage can look like; and legacy broadcasters – which all thought this was another ceremonial re-bidding for the contract – were left reeling.
The move, again, raised another tough question: If even the biggest media empires can lose their crown jewels to digital upstarts, who in the Middle East/North Africa (or the world) can really afford to sit still?
A new global pattern: aggregation is the game
Let’s zoom out. The last few months have detonated any illusion that “every network can be an island.” The playbook is now about aggregation, alliances and user-first mega-platforms.
In the US, Paramount isn’t just shopping assets – it’s merging with Skydance. The result? A modern content powerhouse designed for a world where scale and agility both matter. Meanwhile, Warner Bros Discovery has split its empire, separating the old-school linear TV world from streaming and studio production – making the latter lean, mean and ready for further deals.
In the UK, the BBC isn’t fighting Netflix anymore. You’ll now find the BBC iPlayer right alongside Netflix and Discovery+ in Sky’s “all-in-one” Essential TV bundle. Sky Q subscribers jump frictionlessly from Peaky Blinders to Squid Game to live sport – no more brand ego at the user’s expense.
And in India, JioCinema is forcing the market into aggregation by sheer force of will. Viacom18’s SVoD platform merged with Disney+ Hotstar in February to create JioHotstar. With Viacom18 and Disney content all under one roof, the super-app is the new ecosystem. If you’re not in it, you’re invisible and regional networks must either join or die.
The bottom line: if Paris and Riyadh felt like outliers last month, the global trend is now blindingly clear – aggregation is not just the future, it’s the present. The bold, the merged, the frictionless and the user-obsessed are winning. Everyone else is just waiting to be acquired or forgotten.
Another tough question: Is your organisation brave enough to make friends with its rivals – and give your audience the aggregation they actually want? Or are you still lost in the fog of “walled gardens” and brand nostalgia? The message from Paris to Riyadh is the same: audience comes first, ego comes last.
The old map, with its borders, turf wars, and “heritage rights,” is fading. Today’s winners embrace partnership over protectionism, prioritise user experience over legacy systems, and move fast, even if it means dancing with the enemy.
Today’s losers assume that old contracts will save them, overestimate the loyalty of audiences raised on TikTok and YouTube, and think tech is the enemy, rather than a tool.
Conclusion: The toughest question
So, is the rest of the world moving in the same direction? Yes and no. The bold are moving. The rest? Still in denial. The real question for every media CEO, commissioner and regulator is when the next Thmanyah or TF1 move hits your market, will you cross the line – or be left behind your defensive walls? After all, you can’t defend your castle if everyone already left for the party next door.
