AVMS panel at Series Mania

Source: Screen International

AVMS panel at Series Mania

Olivier Henrard, deputy managing director at France’s National Centre of Cinema (CNC), has called on Europeans to unite and stand together against new US “threats” on European Union (EU) regulations around streaming.

Henrard took to the stage at Lille’s Séries Mania Forum on Thursday to discuss the future of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which is due to be reviewed next year and which has been transposed by numerous governments across Europe.

US streamers are required to carry 30% of European works under the AVMSD. Member states are able to implement their own financial obligations on streamers.

However, a memo from US president Donald Trump in February pointed to what he claimed were unfair tax regimes and practices implemented on US digital services abroad. 

“The memorandum of the new president of the United States and the reaction it has sparked among US organisations made it very clear about the threats,” Henrard said.

Following ”the US’s employment and activity decline, amplified by the devastating LA fires, the US president said he wants Hollywood to recover its golden age,” Henrard continued, ”a golden age supposedly lost to runaway productions shot abroad and regulations that require investing in local productions.”

Some aspects of the AVMSD are already being challenged, including Netflix’s complaint against plans by the Wallonia-Brussels region in Belgium to increase local investment obligation from 2.2% of domestic revenue to 9.5% by 2027.

Henrard added that the streamer is ”calling for the national Supreme Court to send the case to the European Court of Justice,” before adding that the case is being defended “staunchly” via the European Film Agency (EFAD), which represents national film and audiovisual agencies from European countries.

“We must expect a much more aggressive approach from the US. We have to react collectively, as Europeans - Europe will need to show its unity,” he said.

Context & background

France has become a forerunner in regulating streamers having introduced local quotas in 2021 that require companies such as Netflix to invest 20% of their French revenues into European and French film and audiovisual works.

Two thirds must be independent production, meaning producers retain IP. The regulations have brought more than $1bn into French production across the first two-and-a-half years, said CNC research director, Cécile Lacoue, pointing to a recent joint report published in November from regulator ARCOM and the CNC.

She also highlighted Ampere Analysis figures, which showed that European countries which have introduced investment obligations saw global streamers’ European commissions increase by 146% between 2020 and 2024, against a 73% increase in countries without.

Italy, which lowered obligations in 2024 from 20% to 16% of revenues, saw a cut-back in commissions at both Netflix and Prime Video, she said, from between 25 to 35 titles to about ten each. However, the country also now requires streamers to fill 70% of their quota with independent productions (allowing producers to retain IP), versus just 50% previously.

“What is it that is under attack? It is our digital architecture,” said European Parliament member, Laurence Farreng. “This is bigger than just audiovisual and cinéma, it is part of our European sovereignty.”

Amazon’s public policy director for EU digital & France, Yohann Benard, did not comment on the memorandum. “We are a business, we are a company customer-centric, we obviously comply with regulation,” he said.

He did, however, point to figures from the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) that suggested global streamers are responsible for 26% of European audiovisual works. “That’s a lot more than the 20% in France,” he said.

Susana Gato, president of European producers association CEPI, added that she wants to see the current obligation for 30% of European works increase to 50%, but said it was crucial that each member state continues to be able to impose their own regulation.

 

 

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