A Declaration on behalf of the EBU Executive Board

On the occasion of the 75th Festival of Cannes, we as leaders of European public service media would like to reiterate our support for Europe’s strong and vibrant cinema sector, and our commitment to its continued success.

European Cinema continues to suffer after the pandemic

European Cinemas – like many of us in the creative industries – have faced many significant challenges since the onset of the COVID pandemic. The period has seen brilliant filmmaking and great creativity. But we recognise that cinema-going has been badly affected by the pandemic and - while audiences are returning to movie theatres throughout Europe - the total number of theatre admissions is still below the levels that existed prior to the pandemic. And sometimes, great European film-making can be crowded out by US-made films1.  

PSM and European Cinema – Natural Partners 

In this new post-pandemic age, we want to demonstrate that Europe’s public service media organizations remain the ideal partners for European Cinema.  

Now, and in the future, European public service media will continue to play a key role in financing both high quality European films primarily destined for national audiences as well as sponsoring the  co-production of European films that surpass both the geographical and linguistic borders of Europe. We recognise that industry is evolving. US-based streaming services have a strong presence and bring benefits to parts of the sector, including European production companies. However, European public service media have always supported the exclusive theatrical exhibition of films that they have helped to finance within Europe’s movie theatres.

PSM providing a Free and Open Window for European Films 

European public service media  play a decisive role in ensuring the accessibility of Europe’s films to the public after their exclusive window of theatrical exhibition has passed. Whereas other media companies are incentivised to hide films behind subscription walls2,  European public service media are committed to making content available to their audiences via all of their media platforms as part of their public service remit, that is not driven purely by market logic. 

Our commitment to working with the sector will not change. We look forward to redoubling our efforts to engage, and to further co-production in Europe that will benefit the audiences of Europe and European Cinema. 

1 The majority of box-office receipts generated during 2021 driven by US-made films, 2021 European Cinema Data from the European Audiovisual Observatory 

2 A very large part of Europe’s cinematographic heritage since the mid-1990s, more than 40% in fact, is still not available online.