Netflix, ooh la la: the over-the-top (OTT) giant is getting further along in its plan to expand its footprint to France, according to reports, and possibly Germany and other parts of Western Europe as well.

The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” said that Netflix is talking to various Big Media companies about expanding its international licensing rights in the region: so far, the company operates in the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands and the Nordic region. Netflix is fairly far along in its discussions with the French government, the report said, to potentially launch before the end of the year.

Rumors of a French connection began in December, with a Reuters (News - Alert) report that Netflix executives had met with the French President's staff to discuss a possible launch into Europe’s third-largest pay-TV market.

"Netflix wanted information about the legal conditions that would affect its potential arrival in France," Reuters quoted an official at the President's office as saying, adding that Netflix executives were also visiting Germany and other locales to test out the waters.

And indeed, France presents a challenge for any OTT operator thanks to its strict regulatory requirements: most notably, a film can’t be shown on an SVOD service for three years (three years!!) after its box office debut. Authenticated TV services though—TV Everywhere offerings and VOD from cable, satellite and IPTV (News - Alert) providers—only require a four-month window. So, it’s likely that, barring a governmental concession, Netflix would be looking to partner with pay-TV operators, as it has done with Virgin Media (News - Alert) in the U.K. and Com Hem in Sweden. However, there’s competition: France’s largest broadcaster, Canal Plus, already operates a popular service called CanalPlay in France.

In Germany, Netflix will also run into fairly steep competition in the region: German satellite operator Sky Deutschland has recently launched Snap. There’s also the Amazon-owned LOVEFiLM and Maxdome to contend with.

There’s a lot of pie to divvy up though, it must be said. SNL Kagan expects the market for streaming-video services in Western Europe to grow rapidly, reaching $1.1 billion revenue in 2017. That’s up by two thirds from 2013.

"We can still build a very successful business," Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings said of the regional competition, during its earnings Webcast. "I think the key is having unique content, a great reputation, a good value proposition."

Speaking of earnings, Netflix looks to have the money for a broader expansion, which is of course anything but inexpensive to do (it’s still not turning a profit in Latin America, one of its first international growth markets). It grew its fourth quarter 2013 net profit six-fold from a year ago, reaching $48 million, even as its subscriber base exceeded 44 million members worldwide. The online streaming darling handily beat Wall Street expectations, gaining 2.3 million more US subscribers in Q4 and more than four million overall. Meanwhile, revenue was up 24 percent year-over-year to $1.18 billion.

In terms of Q1 2014 guidance, Netflix expects to add another 2.25 million domestic customers, setting up an about 11 percent year-over-year increase.

International expansion will be critical to Netflix going forward as it faces running out of customer acquisition steam domestically; with 110 million total TV households in the US, it's rapidly approaching a 50 percent penetration rate, which is far more than any of its traditional pay-TV rivals.