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Christine Albanel, Minister for Culture and Communication, has received an interim report on the mission entrusted to Mr Kessler and Mr Richard on modernising the regulation of relations between the producers and broadcasters of audiovisual material (see IRIS 2007-10: 13). The background to this is that the Government is particularly keen to overhaul the “Tasca” decrees adopted in 2001 and 2002, which make the channels subject to quotas, requiring them to devote 16% of their turnover to audiovisual works, two-thirds of which must be commissioned from producers independent of the channel. At the...

At a press conference on 8 January 2008, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, made an announcement that received great attention, when he said that he was considering bringing an end to all advertising on the public channels (France 2, France 3, France 4 and France 5). His comment was that “if the public-service channels operate according to the same criteria, the same demands and the same logic as the private channels, then there is no point in having a public service”. The public-service channels are financed by a licence fee (EUR 116 per household in mainland France in 2007) and advertising....

The theme channel Fox Life, launched in France in 2005 with programming focused on films, fiction programmes and series, is, since the end of 2007 and the conclusion of a legal battle, no longer being distributed by CanalSatellite, the only French satellite package since its merger with TPS in early 2007. The dispute mainly concerned the duration of the channel’s distribution contract, because of the contracting parties’ diverging interpretations of a letter appended to the contract. According to the contract, it was to be valid for an initial period of two years, i.e. until 30 April 2007, and...

A French support scheme aimed at encouraging the creation of video games has recently been endorsed by the European Commission. The scheme was notified by the French authorities on the basis of Article 87(3) (d) of the EC Treaty; the Commission subsequently opened an in-depth investigation to ensure that the measure would not adversely affect trading conditions and competition, acting as an industrial policy instrument in favour of the French video game sector. The aid scheme enables video game manufacturers subject to taxation in France to deduct up to 20% of the production costs of certain games....

Call TV programmes - programmes where viewers are invited to phone in or send SMS messages at premium rates in order win hypothetical prizes - have been under the scrutiny of the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory authority - CSA) for several months. In 2002 the CSA adopted a recommendation establishing rules for calls at premium rates, which were authorised if they were “occasional and discrete” and if they were an extension of a programme being broadcast at that point in time. Call TV operates according to a different model, however, since the calls at premium rates are...