24/01/2013 - A decree by Corrado Passera and Lorenzo Ornaghi will require television networks to invest and give a specific amount of airing space to films of “original Italian expression.”

A total of 3.6% of RAI’s annual budget will go to the production, financing, pre-buying and buying of Italian cinematographic pieces of work. The obligation will extend to other networks too, with a requirement of 3.5% of their net income. These are the quotas indicated in the decree designed by Italian ministers Corrado Passera (economic development - MiSE) and Lorenzo Ornaghi (culture - MiBAC), which was presented yesterday, January 23, to the presidents of the Senate and the House.

The quota for resources had already been designated for European bodies of work, meaning networks will not have to find new resources to meet this demand. The decree, which specifies the quota to be exclusively reserved to works of art of “original Italian expression” will favour concentration (to the advantage of independent producers) of an overall volume of investment totalling €200 million.

As for programming obligations, the text requires RAI dedicate 1.3% of its non-themed transmission time to Italian pieces of work and 4% of its themed schedule time to Italian pieces of work. Other networks will have to adhere to respectfully 1% and 3% in similar time slots.

“This provision is one that has been waited upon for years by the cinematographic industry,” the two ministers explained in a common note. “Investment into our cinematographic industry by television networks will be stabilised and made definitive, attaching networks to objective sums (networks’ income, the quota provided for by law, the percentage stabilised by the decree). With this decree, we are also favouring a significant strengthening of synergies between those who produce films independently and those who diffuse them, like television networks.”

The two chambers now have 30 days to express their consultative opinions. 

(Translated from Italian)