France has published a decree outlining the obligations of foreign video services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ in financing French and European works.
Les Echos reports that the so-called Smad (on-demand audiovisual media services) decree does not show any major changes to proposals set out at the end of last year. It therefore fails to take into account the main observations of the European Commission (EC).
The decree will require such services to allocate at least 20% of their turnover in France to the financing of French or European works, rising to 25% for platforms offering films less than 12 months after their theatrical release. The rate is increased to 20% for cinema and a significant part of the contribution – two-thirds in the audiovisual sector – would go to independent productions.
The EC has previously said it believes the decree, due to come into effect on July 1, is too weighted in favour of producers.
