French Broadcasters & Guilds Launch Lobby Group To Preserve Local Audiovisual Sector & Principle Of Cultural Exception

France’s main free-to-air broadcasters France Télévisions, M6 and TF1 have joined forces with the country’s film and TV guilds to create a lobbying group to represent their interests and convey the role they play in supporting democracy, social cohesion and local culture.

Bannered “LaFA, la filière audiovisuelle”, which translates as the “LaFA, the audiovisual sector”, the new initiative was unveiled at a news conference at the headquarters of private broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday.

“Our organizations and companies want to recall the essential role they play in providing all of our fellow citizens with free and universal access to trustworthy information, to audiovisual creations envied throughout the world, as well as a rich offering of entertainment and major sporting events,” the group said in a statement.

“They guarantee the diversity of audiovisual and musical creation and its exhibition through programs highlighting the full diversity of French society and conveying positive messages of inclusion and unifying. They participate in the creation of a cultural heritage common to all of our fellow citizens across the entire territory and therefore contribute to the strengthening of social cohesion in our country.”

The professional orgs getting behind the lobbying group span l’ADAMI (performing artists), la SACD (Dramatic Authors and Composers) , la SACEM (music professionals) et la SCAM (writers) and producer bodies ANIMFRANCE, le SPI and l’USPA.

The group’s 10 co-founding members include TF1 CEO Rodolphe Belmer, who will act as its president for a two-year term. He is flanked by France Télévision Director General Delphine Ernotte Cunci, producer Nora Melhli, who is also president of the audiovisual branch of producer group le Spi, and Pascal Rogard, head of SACD, in the roles of vice-presidents.

The new body wants to creating a better understanding of the French audiovisual sector, both from an economic and cultural standpoint, among all stakeholders touching on the sector, including regulators, legislators, the government and European Commission.

Its first action will be a study on the economic clout of the French audiovisual sector which will be unveiled in the spring 2025.

Key objectives going forward will be ensuring sustainable public funding for public broadcasting; supporting the development of private players in the free-to-air space by loosening legislation around advertising; guaranteeing the autonomy of the National Cinema Centre (CNC); maintaining the Intermittent compensation scheme for entertainment workers; preserving tax credits, and regulating generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and online platforms