France

[FR] SACD calls for films to be shown on catch-up TV on France Télévisions

IRIS 2015-8:1/16

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

Pascal Rogard, president of the French society of dramatic authors and composers (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques - SACD), wrote to the Minister for Culture early in the summer 2015 on the matter of showing films on France Télévisions’ catch-up service Pluzz. This was because when the public-sector audiovisual group had offered Claude Lanzmann’s film ‘Shoah’ on Pluzz for a period of thirty days on the occasion of the anniversary of the Liberation, a number of professional organisations in the cinema sector had referred the matter to the national audiovisual regulatory body (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA), pointing out that such exceptional use of the film should only be authorised because of the particular circumstances of the ceremonies connected with the Liberation anniversary celebrations. The organisations considered that cinema should remain outside the realm of catch-up TV, ‘at the cost of a legal reading of the terms of reference that was to say the least rigorist, surprising, and indeed scandalous’, according to the SACD’s letter. The public-sector audiovisual group’s terms of reference provide that ‘all the programmes broadcast on the television services of France Télévisions shall be available free of charge for a period of at least seven days from the date of their first airing, except for cinematographic works and, as appropriate, sports programmes’. The SACD, for its part, considers that while there is no obligation to make films available on catch-up TV, there is certainly no ban on doing so. In support of this interpretation, the company recalls that the terms of the codicil to the contract of aims and means concluded between France Télévisions and the State, in which developing the digital offering was given priority status, and which indicates ‘the need to ensure, both in terms of advantage to audiences and the legal display of works, the continuity of the experience of viewers off the air by offering the films the group broadcasts, free of charge, on catch-up TV, according to a method still to be defined’. Moreover, the substantial presence of sports events on Pluzz contradicts the interpretation put forward by the professional organisations in the cinema sector. However, even after five years of discussion with France Télévisions it has not been possible to reach agreement on the matter. The SACD feels the situation is damaging not only to the films and to their originators, who are not able to have the benefit of prolonged airing for their works, but also to broadcasters, for whom a linear and non-linear exploitation has proved to be vital in the digital environment. The latest figures from the CNC leave no doubt as to the generalisation of catch-up TV. Since the forthcoming renegotiation with the State of France Télévisions’ contract of aims and means is favourable to the change, the SACD is calling on the Minister to ‘emerge from this astounding impasse’ and to intervene so that, in particular, those films co-produced and financed by France 2 and France 3 are no longer excluded from the catch-up TV offer.