Canal Plus has renewed is investment in French cinema in an accord running up until the end of 2022, which also shortens the window of new movies to six months after theatrical release.
The pay-TV group is required by law to invest in French cinema, to the tune of 12.5% of its annual turnover in pre-buying French and European feature films.
In 2017, Canal Plus pre-bought 136 features, 117 of them majority French productions, for a total of €153.7 million, according to CNC figures. Under the new deal, Canal Plus will also be permitted to produce up to four features in-house a year for the first time. Previously, it could only pre-buy features.
According to Les Echos, Canal Plus managed to negotiate important concessions within its agreement with the film industry, capping its funding at €180 million per year and linking the contribution per customer to the value of the subscription package.
At the moment, the window for French movies is ten months after theatrical release, 22 months for viewing on free-to-air broadcasters. The shorter window would be a plus for Canal, but the question remains if this will be enough to stop the decrease in subscribers to the premium channel.
