24/07/2003

The vast revenues that will be generated when France ends its long-standing ban on Tv advertising by a number of media and audiovisual sectors is whetting appetites. In May 2002, the European Commission accused France of disregarding the policy that allows such advertising throughout the EU and ordered the government to rethink its policy. Culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon decided that leading distributors and publishers will soon be able to advertise their products on television. The ban still applies to the press and film industries, although it is likely to be revoked in the near future.

The huge amounts of revenue this move will generate, lead the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) to rule that a part of this money must be re-distributed to newcomers to the sector, especially local TV companies and future operators in the terrestrial digital television (TGT) sector, a project that was poorly launched because hardly anyone in France knows anything about it since there has been little or no publicity or information forthcoming. The CSA ruling was made public on Tuesday 22 July.
ARP (Writers-Directors-Producers) was not slow to react. On Wednesday 23 July they called for talks to put in place a series of benefits aimed at improving the schemes that support creativity. ARP was keen to underline that "the audiovisual sector’s current state of severe under-financing plus the weakness of independent film producers means that this advertising revenue should encourage TV operators to support film and audiovisual creativity inside France."

(Translated from French)