France’s TF1 group and six leading broadcasting industry bodies – SATEV (press agencies), SEDPA (distributors), SPECT (content developers), SPFA (animated films), SPI (independent producers) and USPA (TV production) – have drawn up agreements they say represent a step change in relations between the different players in the creation of French audiovisual content. These agreements are scheduled to be signed at the French Ministry of Culture and Communication at 12.30 pm CET Tuesday May 24, in the presence of the Minister, Audrey Azoulay.

For the first time ever, the TF1 group and all the trade bodies representing producers and distributors have reached agreement on the following points:

• The TF1 group has renewed its commitment to devote 12.5 per cent of the net broadcasting advertising revenue over the next four years to original drama, documentaries, cartoons, live shows and music videos.
• The proportion of the TF1 group’s total spend invested in content from ‘dependent’ producers has been raised to 36 per cent, split into two tranches:
  • a tranche capped at 26 per cent reserved for subsidiaries of the TF1 group;
  • a further 10 per cent tranche, representing ‘room for manoeuvre’ enabling TF1 to obtain – on terms specified in the agreement – broader rights (linear and non-linear) from production companies in which the TF1 group does not own an equity interest.
• The proportion of the TF1 group’s total spend invested in content from ‘independent’ producers is 64 per cent.
• The agreement adjusts the duration of rights acquired from production companies in which the TF1 group does not own an equity interest, and optimises the terms for the exploitation of non-linear rights.
• The parties have also agreed on the terms for awarding distribution mandates for all independent works.
• In addition, the TF1 group will be entitled – subject to certain conditions – to more favourable access to coproduction shares and to revenue rights.
• The TF1 group’s support for creativity is also demonstrated by the guarantee that 75 per cent of its spend will be invested in original productions, and by the commitment to bear a greater share of writing and development costs.

These agreements, which forge a new partnership between the TF1 group and the industry, come at a time when the broadcasting landscape is undergoing a transformation as a result of changes in technology and in the ways in which the public use media.

The underlying ambition of the agreements is to enable all of the parties to rise to the new challenges facing the industry, promote diversity in the creation of audiovisual content, and to move towards a more balanced economic model for each of them.

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