The media chronology is changing: from February 10, 2022, cinema films will be able to be broadcast much more quickly after their theatrical release by streaming platforms such as Netflix or Disney+.
It is an agreement that reshuffles the cards for the distribution of films after their exploitation in cinemas. On January 24, 2022, after long months of tough negotiations, a new agreement on what is called the “media timeline” has been signed at the Ministry of Culture between cinema professionals, television channels and VOD and SVOD platforms. This text, which however has not received the blessing of Disney +, Apple TV + and Amazon Prime Video, will come into force on February 10, 2022 for a period of three years. If it does not concern series, but exclusively the distribution of films initially released on the screens of France and Navarre, this new evolution of the chronology of the media will very soon allow the (television)-viewers that we are to access a lot faster from our couch to the movies we missed in theaters.
Media chronology: a French specialty
Today, when a film is released, it usually remains on screens for a few weeks, but the period of exclusivity allocated to cinemas is four months. This time is reduced to three months if the film has registered less than 100,000 admissions over the first four weeks of release. Clearly, this means that apart from cinemas, no service can broadcast a film less than four months after its theatrical release. After this period, the calendar of the very French – and often very criticized – media chronology opens. VOD services (those where you pay by the act to watch a film on your computer or TV) then come into play, as does the physical marketing of films on DVD or Blu-ray. Regarding these supports, with the new text, nothing changes.
But it is the exception that confirms the rule, because the other players in the sector (pay channels like Canal+ and OCS, SVOD services like Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video, but also free channels like TF1, France Televisions, M6 or Arte) see their schedule for broadcasting cinematographic works both reduced and turned upside down. Sometimes in return for a very significant contribution to the financing of French and European creation. Thus, for pay channels such as Canal+, and by extension for its direct competitor OCS, it is now possible (in the event of an agreement with professional film organisations) to broadcast a film six months after its theatrical release (compared to eight months previously). This is very good news for Canal+ (and for its subscribers), since the group, which is now part of the Bolloré galaxy, recently committed to investing more than 600 million euros over the next three years in the production of French and European films.
Movies available faster on Netflix
But the one for whom this evolution of the media chronology is the most spectacular is undoubtedly Netflix. Because for the SVOD giant, the release window which was until now 36 months is reduced to 15 months! At the same time, the American Internet group has signed a bilateral agreement with film professionals by which it undertakes to invest 40 million euros per year to finance films and in particular low-budget films. A clause which, in the end, allows the firm of Los Gatos (California) to distinguish itself from its direct competitors Amazon Prime and Disney++ whose release window goes from 36 months to (only) 17 months from next February 10.
Finally, the free channels (TF1, France Télévisions, M6 or even Arte), will be able to broadcast financed feature films 22 months after their theatrical release (compared to 30 months previously), but on the condition that they invest at least 3 .2% of their turnover to support the seventh art. Note, and this is a bit technical, that between the 22and and the 36and months, the free channels will benefit from exclusive distribution of the films financed, which implies that the SVOD platforms will have to withdraw these works from their catalog during this period, unless there is a “co-exclusivity” agreement signed between the two parties (between TF1 and Netflix, for example).
In the end, some living room moviegoers may feel that the time it takes for films to be released after their theatrical release is still too long. This is forgetting a little too quickly that the chronology of the media in its French version aims above all to protect the cinema and cinemas in particular, these magical places where films come to life and their real dimension. Because, as surprising as it may seem, the last Spider-Man was not shot to be viewed on a smartphone. In the United States, on the other hand, a country where cinema is above all an industry, the future of cinemas seems more uncertain. Following the example of these two agreements recently concluded between AMC, the leading North American theatrical circuit, with HBO Max and Universal. In the first, it is agreed that the window of exclusivity for Warner films in theaters will be reduced from 90 to 45 days. And in the second, this period is reduced to… 17 days.