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On 3 April 2014, the administrative court in Lyon delivered a judgment which, beyond its local consequences, “threatens the entire system of aid to the cinema from the regions”, according to the President of the Rhône-Alpes Region. In the present case, a member of the Regional Council applied to the administrative court for cancellation of the Council’s decision renewing for 2011-2015 the Region’s subsidy to Rhône-Alpes Cinéma; its co-production structure. It is the leading regional structure providing aid to the cinema in France, with a catalogue of 220 titles including Tony Gatlif’s latest film,...

France’s Minister for Culture and Communication Aurélie Filippetti called a meeting of her European counterparts in Paris on 4 and 5 April, as part of the Chaillot Forum on the future of culture in Europe. France’s President François Hollande, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, European Commissioners Michel Barnier (Internal Market) and Androulla Vassiliou (Culture and Education), and UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova were also present for a working session. More than 1 200 participants - creators and intellectuals from Europe and further afield, public decision-makers and professionals...

The audiovisual regulatory body (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) published its annual report for 2013 on 14 April. Apart from a comprehensive panorama of the body’s activity in the past year, and as required by law, the report presents a set of proposals for amendments to legislation and regulations. 2013 saw the submission of a number of major reports (including the Lescure Report; see IRIS 2013-6/19), and the Government is preparing new legislation on content creation; this report therefore constitutes the CSA’s contribution to consideration of the future of audiovisual regulation....

On 2 April 2014 France’s Court of Auditors (Cour des Comptes) published a report on support for cinematographic and audiovisual production. The Court has been checking whether the objectives of the policies for providing public financing for cinematographic and audiovisual production, which date back to 1950 and 1980 respectively, have been achieved, whether the results of the past ten years are in keeping with the increased resources implemented, and whether the support mechanisms are still appropriate. It noted that the general recent trend has been for a very substantial increase in public aid...

On 2 April 2014, France’s competition authority (Autorité de la Concurrence) re-authorised the purchase of D8 and D17 by Vivendi and Groupe Canal Plus, subject to a number of conditions. On 23 December 2013, the Conseil d'État had cancelled the Competition Authority’s approval, granted in July 2012, of the purchase of the channels D8 and D17 by Groupe Canal Plus (GCP) (see IRIS 2014-2/18). Procedural reasons aside, the administrative judge found that one of the five undertakings Canal Plus had entered into - on acquiring rights in respect of French films - needed to be reinforced to take into account...