Altice Media is expanding its RMC BFM Play streaming service with 8 new thematic channels. Their particularity: free broadcasting in FAST TV mode, via an application, a website, certain connected televisions and SFR boxes.
Altice Media, a subsidiary of Patrick Drahi’s Altice France, also owner of SFR, continues to diversify into digital. Building on its iconic television brands, BFM and RMC, the group has decided to add 8 new thematic channels to its RMC BFM Play streaming service. Very specialized channels, as their name suggests (BFM Grands Reportages, RMC Alerte Secours, RMC Wow, RMC Mystère, RMC Mecanic, RMC Talk Info, RMC Talk Sport and RMC J’irai slept chez vous) which rely on the notoriety and catalog of their national “big sisters” broadcast on TNT, and which promise to offer more than 3,000 hours of content per year.
In addition to their themes, they stand out above all for their method of distribution, which is completely free. In fact, they are now accessible on the RMC BFM Play platforma service that can be used via applications and a website, but also directly on Samsung connected televisions (through the Samsung TV Plus service) and in SFR boxes (Altice obliges).
Above all, they are all based on the principle of FAST TV, (Free ad-supported streaming television or free streaming television financed by advertising in French), this method which combines streaming with linear television. Clearly, no catalog of videos to watch on demand, like on streaming platforms like Netflix or Disney+, but channels broadcasting programs continuously, the old-fashioned way, with advertising, like on TNT.
The most interesting thing is that the choice of Altice Media is part of an underlying trend which sees the economic model of FAST TV becoming more widespread (see our article) in the face of SVOD (subscription video on demand). ) paid streaming platforms. And if the pioneers of the genre, such as Rakuten TV and Pluto TV, are just starting to break through in France, much more prestigious players such as Sony Picture are embarking on this adventure, as shown by the recent announcement of Sony One, a new service free streaming in FAST TV which will arrive in April (see our article). We no longer have to wait for the highly anticipated release of the France Télévisions project for FAST TV to truly become a part of the habits of French viewers.