Media timeline: Government sets March 31, 2021 as the deadline for a new agreement
As part of the transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the government will adapt the media chronology currently in place to take into account the evolution of uses, in particular with the appearance of SVOD and the Covid-19 crisis.
The professional agreement concluded on October 6, 2018, to which the Cinema and Moving Image Code refers, governs the issue of determining the deadlines for making a work available by an on-demand audiovisual media publisher, or its distribution by a television service publisher.
However, Directive 2018/1808, known as the “Audiovisual Media Services” Directive, was transposed into French law on December 21 by Order no. 2020-1642. The directive imposes new financing obligations on productions, particularly when foreign platforms are involved, so that the French media chronology must comply with it. In its article 28, the ordinance thus provides for the supervision of a new professional agreement within six months after publication.
The emergence of SVOD, or streaming platforms, has changed the public’s relationship to the consumption of audiovisual works, which sometimes no longer even appear in theaters before being accessible online.
Added to this is the need to adapt to the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, which led to the closure of cinemas in France, and thus the impossibility of following the traditional media chronology. This phenomenon has been greatly reinforced by the weight of the SVOD market.
On January 26, 2021, a decree clarified Article 28 by setting the deadline for its expiration at March 31, 2021.
To encourage the financing of the French audiovisual industry, two avenues are envisaged:
- An investment by a platform of 20% of its French turnover in cinematographic and audiovisual production would give it the opportunity to broadcast films after twelve months.
- An investment by a platform of at least 25% of its French turnover in film and audiovisual production would give it the opportunity to broadcast films before twelve months.
By the IP/IT team at UGGC Avocats
Sources : https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000042724538/
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=legissum:am0005
https://hitek.fr/actualite/nouvelle-chronologie-des-medias_26995
