Louise Bernard
modified to
10:06 a.m., September 29, 2022
Delphine Ernotte, President of France Télévisions, Gilles Pélisson, CEO of TF1 and Nicolas de Tavernost, Chairman of the Management Board of the M6 group, together publish a column in the newspaper The world. These three bosses are calling on American platforms to respect an agreement that was signed at the start of the year. An agreement called the media chronology.
Favored American platforms
This somewhat barbaric term concerns viewers, since it is the regulations that decide when they will be able to see the films after their release in theaters, when they will be broadcast on American platforms or on Canal + and on French free television channels. .
The rules are as follows: before a film released in cinemas is put online on the Disney + platform, you have to wait 17 months. And, it is necessary to wait 30 months before this same film is shown on free television, on TF1, France Télévisions or M6. The platforms have obtained, thanks to this new agreement, to pass before the free channels. This therefore favors American platforms since they have exclusivity before television channels.
Disney+ threatens to stop releasing its films in theaters
But, there is also another rule to allow the free television channels to keep a form of exclusivity when they broadcast the film. When a film released in cinemas will be broadcast on TF1, Disney + will then have the obligation to withdraw its film from the platform. And it is on this precise point that Disney + disagrees.
The platform has therefore engaged in a showdown with the French government. How ? By threatening to no longer release films produced by Disney in cinemas but directly on its platform. A big shortfall for cinemas and therefore for the financing of French cinema. And it’s not just a threat. This will be the case of his animated film strange world. France is the only country where it will be released only on the platform.
Access to cinema under threat
The bosses of the TV channels therefore ask “the public authorities not to give in to the diktat of the pay platforms”. They want their exclusivity to be recognized. That is to say that the rule is respected: when a film is broadcast on TV, it must be removed from the platforms. These three bosses recall that this exclusivity is the counterpart of their financing of French cinema.
They point out that in 2021, their groups invested 144 million euros in 126 films, “which otherwise would not have been able to see the light of day”. This is more than twice the contribution of American platforms to French cinema. So they call out with this platform and end up with this question: “Do we want access to cinema in France to be reserved for paid services?”.