(Bloomberg) -- Netflix Inc. has struck a movie-making alliance with Silvio Berlusconi's Italian broadcaster Mediaset SpA, in the U.S. streaming giant's latest effort to clinch more European viewers.
The companies will co-finance seven titles and Netflix will contribute most of the funding, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings will be in Rome next week for an event to announce the multi-year deal, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plans are not public.
Netflix is cranking up production of TV shows and films all over the world to give its content a local flavor and capture more non-U.S. viewers. The push has already involved co-productions with broadcasters from Japan to the U.K. and France. The importance of those efforts was underlined in July when Netflix reported a drop in U.S. subscribers and slower growth overseas, sending its shares tumbling.
While the tech giant is likely to bring Mediaset a global audience for the jointly-produced movies, the deal shows the shifting balance of power in the industry as national networks lose viewers to a growing array of U.S. streaming platforms.
Mediaset, led by the billionaire former prime minister's son Pier Silvio Berlusconi, is trying to lead a counterattack and has called on other European broadcasters to join forces and achieve the scale they need to compete.
Mediaset shares were down 2.2% as of 3:03 p.m. in Milan. Netflix shares in New York fell 1.5%.
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Netflix has produced more than 60 international series in 2019, more than double last year's tally. Recent foreign-language hits include “La Casa De Papel,” a Spanish heist series, and German drama “The Dark.”
It's reached more than 30% of available customers in European markets such as the U.K., Germany and Sweden, according to estimates, but has more room to grow in southern countries.
Representatives for Mediaset and Netflix declined to comment.
To contact the reporters on this story: Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles at lshaw31@bloomberg.net;Daniele Lepido in Milan at dlepido1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Thomas Pfeiffer at tpfeiffer3@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Ryan
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