Are there other French TV shows I can watch via Roku?

March 7, 2013 5:56 AM

Are there other French TV shows I can watch via Roku?

I've gotten really, REALLY into watching Spiral (or 'Engrenages'), which is apparently the first French-language TV show that Netflix has made available for viewers in the US.

Are there other French-language TV shows (with English subtitles) that I can watch now that I've finished? The catch is that I'm hoping to specifically be able to watch via my Roku box, rather than on a computer. This means that Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu are at my disposal, as well as whatever other channels are available on Roku. I looked (both on the device and by googling) and haven't found anything yet. But, most sites don't have the option to search for French-language TV so it seemed very possible that I'd missed something.

Thanks, in advance!

posted by lxs to media & arts (3 answers total)

You could try Captvty - which allows pretty much any program shown on French TV to be downloaded. In France, where everybody has to pay about €130 euros per year for TV as part of their "tax d’habitation", the legality of all this seems to be a little grey. Outside of France - where my tests show the system for at least some programs - it is greyer still - but at the very least it will let you see a little about the range of TV programs shown.
posted by rongorongo at 6:21 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]

Captvty is a great tool but you won't get English subtitles, and it won't work on Roku.

Hulu Plus has a seven-part documentary miniseries by Louis Malle called Phantom India, which is really fantastic (and not at all the orientalist exoticism I was expecting*). It's from the late 60s, so not exactly recent.

*well, it sort of is, but Malle is unusually self-aware of his status as an outsider
posted by theodolite at 7:01 AM on March 7

Captvty is a great tool but you won't get English subtitles, and it won't work on Roku.

This is true - and it was a qualification I overlooked before posting, sorry. However there is always the option, in Captvity, of choosing "Options" and then "Télécharger automatiquement les sous-titres pour sourds et malentendants si possible" - this should get you subtitles in French - which may be helpful if you are an intermediate level speaker of the language.
posted by rongorongo at 10:01 AM on March 7