14/07/2010

At the start of the year, the federal government announced its intention to change some of the controversial points of the German Film Law (Filmförderungsgesetz), several of which had been declared unconstitutional by the Federal Administrative Court. The parliament has now approved this reform.

The said law stipulated that the FFA (German Federal Film Fund) should be financed through companies that profit from the film industry, i.e. the film exhibition, home video and television sectors. However, whereas the former two were legally obliged to contribute a specific percentage of their profits to the FFA, broadcasters had the privilege of negotiating their contribution directly with the FFA. This caused conflict, followed by the paralysis of a law that had just come into force in January 2009.

Broadcasters’ legally-required contribution will now be calculated in a way similar to that of exhibitors: it will be a fixed percentage of their revenue in proportion also to the percentage of content that features represent in their programming, with no distinction between German and foreign productions.

This puts an end to protests from the German exhibition sector, which had led to confrontations both in and out of the courts. It is therefore to be hoped that the FFA regains stability, so that it can concentrate on consolidating the buoyant situation in German production and seeking consensus regarding the challenge of digitising theatres.

(Translated from Spanish)