23/01/2003 - Annual report reveals paradox: drop in features aired at primetime balanced by steady rise in popularity of French films

Despite a drop in the number of features aired at prime time on French "free" terrestrial television, the leading Gallic Pay-TV, Canal+ , whose primetime programming features a growing number of domestic productions, also reported a welcome increase in subscribers.
The annual report by Espace TV Communication reveals a somewhat confused state of affairs that was not easy for French film producers to decipher. Producers rely heavily on the money raised through pre-sales deals with French television channels to finance their projects.
The report did reveal a steady drop over the last seven years, in the number of French feature films aired at primetime on French terrestrial free-Tv (TF1, France 2, France 3 and M6): 410 in 1995, 338 in 2000 and 311 in 2002.
This data was also accompanied by a steady fall in viewership (the data included Canal+ subscribers) even though the Pay-TV continues to programme domestic productions at prime time with excellent results. In 2002, the best-performing feature film aired at prime time on Canal+ was Rivers of Purple, and the top twenty includes eight other French films, including Amélie, The Company of Wolves, The Closet and Yamakasi. Incidentally, the very same titles that did excellent business during their theatrical release. Canal+’s prime time programming has clearly won favour with French audiences. In 2002, 34 per cent of the features aired by Canal+ at prime time were domestic productions, a 7 per cent increase on the 27 per cent of 2001.

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(Translated from French)