Streaming giants, like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ or Amazon Prime Video, are theoretically able to circumvent the famous media chronology in France. A trick could indeed make it possible to avoid the regulatory deadline. A player in the VOD market also seems ready to take the plunge…
In France, media timeline imposes a series of rules on film distributors, cinema operators, streaming platforms and television channels. The law provides for a regulatory period between the release of a film in cinemas and its broadcast on TV channels or on a VOD platform. It is the only country in Europe to have established the principle of a chronology, inherited from the 1980s, to govern the broadcasting of films on television.
Two years ago, the controversial media timeline was relaxed, on the sidelines of the COVID-19 crisis. Legislation allows VOD services to broadcast their feature films 17 months after the start of their operation in dark rooms. Previously, streaming giants had to wait 36 months before offering their films to their French subscribers. The 17-month delay is still a real pain for VOD players, such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV+. Anxious to avoid this regulatory deadline, many are skipping the screening of their films in cinemas. The footage is therefore directly posted online for their clients.
Also read: Losing momentum, Apple TV+ could join forces with Paramount+
A new visa for a new film?
To get around the law, certain VOD platforms have nevertheless ended up finding a little trick, indicates a survey carried out by our colleagues at BFM TV. In order to offer a film shown in theaters to their subscribers in France, certain actors plan to offer a different version of the footage. Referred to under the name Director's Cut, this new version, longer than the theatrical version, would have another operating visa. In the eyes of French law, it would therefore be a completely new film. It could then be broadcast on the Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV+ platform without violating the media chronology.
Questioned by BFM TV, an anonymous source close to the world of cinema believes that the process is located “in a gray area”. For the National Cinema Center (CNC) to grant a new exploitation visa, it is absolutely necessary that the two works be “different, whatever the director wishes” :
“This new work must not last ten minutes longer than the original, and it must not be simply a desire to circumvent the media chronology.”
Is Apple ready to bypass the media timeline?
The BFM TV investigation takes the example of Napoléon, the event film by Ridley Scott produced by Apple. Released in French cinemas last November, the film, which stars Joaquin Phoenix in the role of the Emperor, is about to arrive in the form ofa Director's Cut version four hours long. This new version of the film would include scenes never before seen, for example concerning the character of Joséphine,
Thanks to this long version, Apple would theoretically be able to offer Napoleon to its TV+ subscribers around the world, including in France, without bothering with the media chronology. Currently, the film, in its theatrical version, is already available for rental and purchase on Apple TV+ worldwide. Only French customers do not have access to the feature film, produced with the help of Sony.
Apple could apply the same logic to Killer of the Flower Moon, a film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by it. The footage is available worldwide on Apple TV+, except in France. The release of a long version would once again resolve the problem. Apple, whose shares of the streaming market are much smaller than those of Netflix or Disney+, seems well placed to make the transition. Another anonymous source, from a large VOD platform, indeed thinks that a “big player like Netflix or Disney couldn’t afford it”but that one “smaller player, which does not represent a big threat to theaters, like Apple TV +, could possibly do so”.
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Source :
BFM TV