PARIS - Video-streaming giant Netflix has launched in France as part of a push to tap six new European markets.
Founder and CEO Reed Hastings formally inaugurated the Gallic wing Monday with a red carpet event in Paris. He said he was proud that Netflix was in France because filmmaking was an "integral part of French culture."
Netflix hopes to reach a third of French homes in the next five to 10 years. It is already producing a French-language drama called "Marseille" to be aired in 2015.
Hastings hopes the show, which deals with political intrigue and violence in France's crime-ridden southern city, will mirror the success of Netflix's Emmy award-winning "House of Cards" drama about Washington that stars Kevin Spacey.
Netflix already has more than 50 million subscribers in 40 countries.