The Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (AGCOM) published the new regulation (Del. 30/11/CSP) that sets out the time limitations for the "secondary exploitation rights" acquired by the media services providers.
The "secondary exploitation rights" are defined as all rights other than the primary rights, i.e. anything else than the audiovisual transmission rights as contractually agreed by the parties. "Foreign" (outside the Italian territory) exploitation rights are now also included within the "secondary rights", as according to the Authority this would be in accordance with the "current market trends".
"Secondary rights" time limitations for co-productions will vary, respectively, from five years for motion pictures, fiction and general entertainment shows, to seven years for cartoons and three years for documentaries. Another year should be added to the time limitations set out for other productions mainly financed by the audiovisual media services providers. The new regulation takes into account the financial contributions made by the independent producers to the relevant audiovisual production, also with a possibility to set off the independent producer investment quota with the consideration for its executive production and other services.
In its resolution the Authority also considered the comments made by various operators during the prior consultation process, also taking into account the new and more flexible multi-platform exploitation practices. For instance, the Authority accepted to delete the definition of "format", albeit the regulation will maintain a general reference also to formats. This because there is still no consensus within the relevant industry players and accordingly the definition will remain within the parties contractual negotiation process.
The media services provider will now have to communicate to the Authority their self regulation code on the relationship between broadcasters and independent producers. If you want to discuss this topic, please contact Giangiacomo Olivi (giangiacomo.olivi@dlapiper.com).