Culture news SVOD services have found a trick to get around this French law: a gray area to exploit for Netflix, Amazon, Disney +…?
The battle between SVOD services and “French cinema” rages on. To get around the media timeline, streaming platforms may have found a trick that exploits a gray area of the law.
Media chronology tends to annoy SVOD giants like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. This law defines the order and time limits in which the various exploitations of a cinematographic work can take place. Its primary goal is to preserve the exploitation of a film in cinemas. In fact, spectators are not tempted to watch the feature film on their television and in the process avoid our beloved cinemas. Originally, streaming platforms had to wait 36 months after a film’s theatrical release before offering it to their subscribers. But the Covid-19 crisis changed all that, reducing the period to just 17 months (15 months for Netflix). However, the wait is still considered too long and the desire to thwart this law is growing. It seems that a parade has appeared recently, allowing SVOD services to broadcast films just a few weeks after their release in France.
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Revolution or bluff?
It was Apple TV+ which decided to take the lead by being the first SVOD service to offer not one, but two films, less than three months after their theatrical release. These are Killers of the Flower Moon by Martin Scorsese and Napoleon by Ridley Scott. According to an anonymous source, the platform operates a “gray area” of the law allowing them to bypass the 17-month waiting period. By giving their subscribers a long version of the film (or Director’s Cut), they could circumvent the French system, because the two films would therefore not theoretically have the same exploitation visa. On the Apple TV+ website, we can see that Killers of The Flower Moon will be “available soon”. Knowing that the platform can offer the film for rental or purchase 4 months after its theatrical release, if this is the case here, Apple TV+ is not illegal. However, if the film is offered free to everyone with a subscription to their service, they will technically be outlawed, and the CNC could then intervene and rectify the situation. Is this the end desired by some and feared by others of the media timeline, or a simple bluff? We don’t know yet, but the rest of this story is likely to cause a lot of discussion. To be continued.
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