The French government has agreed to reduce the tax on private TV broadcasters to compensate for the end of advertising on public TV following intense lobbying by TF1 and M6, reports Le Figaro. Although the media law initially set a tax of 1.5 percent to 3 percent of revenues, the economy and culture ministries have agreed that channels whose advertising revenues fall by 5 percent or more this year will pay only an 0.5 percent tax. From next year, the normal system will apply, according to the ministry of culture.
In the first nine months of the year, TF1 and M6 saw their advertising revenues contract by 19 percent and 11.4 percent respectively. Canal Plus, on the other hand, has seen its advertising revenues grow thanks to the success of its free-to-air offering.
(Source: DMEurope via COMTEX)
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 17:31
I’m not getting this: *private* broadcasters TF1 and M6 are lobbying to receive a tax cut to compensate for the end of advertising on *public* TV???
Can somebody explain to me the economics (or politics) of all this?
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 17:44
Sorry, the background to this was not explained. The tax was imposed on the private networks to fund the gap in revenue at the public stations. TF1 and M6 have successfully argued that the big drop in their own revenues in 2009 made the tax unfair.