European TV Gets Ready to Fight Off Netflix and HBO

For the past two decades, Spain’s state-run RTVE and private rivals Mediaset España and Atresmedia have been fighting for viewers’ hearts with slates of game shows, sports, comedies, and glossy morning news. Now, in a plot twist worthy of the steamiest soap opera, they’ve decided to hook up: This summer the adversaries are launching LovesTV, a shared 18-channel streaming platform with programming from all three networks. The goal is to “aggregate broadcasters and serve as a common entry point into the digital world,” says Arturo Larraínzar, strategy director at Atresmedia.

A similar script is playing out across Europe, as long-standing foes in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy set aside rivalries to co-produce programs or offer shows online. The reason: interlopers from across the Atlantic. Netflix Inc. this year is doubling its European programming budget, to $1 billion; Amazon.com Inc. will soon have at least a dozen original series from Europe, up from one in 2014. And Home Box Office Inc. is boosting its non-U.S. offerings this year by 40 percent, to 250 hours of shows. These newcomers could spur a mass defection of viewers to the increasingly convenient web, and Europe’s traditional broadcasters are scrambling to find a response. “Consumers no longer care where they watch our content, so why should we still draw strict lines between linear and nonlinear, offline and online?” asks Bert Habets, chief executive officer of RTL Group, a traditional broadcaster that’s launched streaming sites in France, Germany, and four other countries.