Deliberation no. 2014-43 of October 1, 2014 on the conditions for showing brief excerpts from sports competitions and non-sports events of great interest to the public.
The French Superior Audiovisual Council,
Having regard to Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, in particular Article 8 thereof, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC of 20 July 1998;
Having regard to Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 10, 2010, in particular Article 15 thereof;
Having regard to notification no. 2014/044/F of May 26, 2014 to the European Commission;
Having regard to the French Sports Code, in particular article L. 333-7 ;
Having regard to Act no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, in particular articles 1, 3-1 and 20-4;
Having regard to the consultation of the organizers of sporting events mentioned in article L. 331-5 of the French Sports Code;
Having regard to the responses to the public consultation relating to the determination of conditions for the diffusion of brief excerpts from sports competitions opened by the French Superior Audiovisual Council on July 22, 2013;
Having regard to the opinion of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee of September 19, 2014;
After deliberation,
Decides:
Act no. 2012-158 of February1, 2012 aimed at strengthening sports ethics and athletes' rights amended the sixth paragraph of Article L. 333-7 of the French Sports Code, which now provides: "The French Superior Audiovisual Council shall set the conditions for the diffusion of the brief excerpts provided for in this Article after browsing the French National Olympic and Sports Committee and the organizers of sporting events mentioned in Article L. 331-5.".
Under the provisions of article 20-4 of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication: "Article L. 333-7 of the French Sports Code is applicable to events of any kind which are of great interest to the public".
In light of the aforementioned legislative provisions, the opinion of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee of September 19, 2014 and contributions from sports event organizers and other interested parties to the public consultation opened by the Council on July 22, 2013, the purpose of the present deliberation is to set the conditions for the diffusion of brief excerpts from sports competitions and non-sports events of great interest to the public that have given rise to the granting of audiovisual exploitation rights (hereinafter referred to as "brief excerpts").
1. Scope of application
The present ruling applies to all television services established in France, and to their on-demand audiovisual media services which make the same program available to the public on a deferred broadcasting basis (hereinafter also referred to as "catch-up TV services").
2. Exercise of the right to short extracts
Television services holding audiovisual exploitation rights to a sports competition or non-sports event of major interest to the public, and their on-demand audiovisual media services which make the same program available to the public on a deferred basis, shall not prevent another television service and its on-demand audiovisual media services which make the same program available to the public on a deferred basis from showing brief excerpts of this competition or event taken free of charge, provided that the following conditions are met:- the excerpts are shown after the end of the first broadcast of the program of the rights holder service from which the excerpts are taken;- the rights holder service is clearly identified when each excerpt is shown, for at least five seconds.
3. Origin of images taken under the right to short extracts
Television services that do not hold the audiovisual exploitation rights to a sports competition or non-sports event of great interest to the public may take short extracts of the competition or event concerned from the live broadcasts made by a rights holder.
When the sports competition or event in question has not been broadcast live, the brief excerpts are taken from deferred broadcasts by a rights holder or from summaries shown in news programmes, as defined in this resolution, offered by a rights holder.
4. Use of short extracts by a television service that does not hold the rights to the same images
Images of a sports competition or non-sports event of great interest to the public taken under the right to short extracts may be shown during a news programme.
For the purposes of this resolution, news programmes are defined as follows:
- regular news broadcasts and bulletins ;
- multi-disciplinary sports or general news magazines, broadcast at least once a week.
For news programmes with a frequency of at least daily, short extracts may be used within 24 hours of the end of the first diffusion of the programme of the rights holder service from which the extracts were taken.
For news programmes with a lower frequency (up to weekly), short extracts may be used for a given programme only in the first edition of that programme following the end of the first diffusion of the rights holder's programme from which the short extracts were taken.
Brief excerpts may not constitute the entirety of the images shown as part of news programme sections within the meaning of the present resolution, which are subject to a specific sponsorship scheme.
5. Maximum duration for the diffusion of brief excerpts by a television service that does not hold the rights to the same images
Brief excerpts of a given sports competition or event may not be shown for more than one minute and thirty seconds per broadcast hour.
Brief excerpts from a given sports competition may not be shown for more than three minutes per day of competition or, in the case of regular team sports competitions, per day of regular team sports competition.
For the purposes of this resolution, a day of competition or event is considered to be a period running from the start of the competition or event on a given calendar day until midnight of the same day.
For the purposes of this resolution, a day of regular team sports competition is considered to be the period during which all the matches in the same competition phase take place (for example, on the date of this resolution, in the case of a League 1 soccer "day" played entirely over a weekend, from the kick-off of the first match on Friday evening or Saturday afternoon to the end of the last match on Sunday evening).
Brief excerpts from a given match in a regular team sports competition may not be shown for more than 30 seconds per match.
Brief excerpts shown by a television service that does not hold the rights to a given competition or event may not cover the entire competition or event.
In the case of regular team sports competitions where several matches are organized per competition day, the images shown are limited, for each competition day, to excerpts from the number of matches immediately below the total number of matches in the competition day (for example, on the date of the present deliberation, nine Ligue 1 soccer matches per day, or six Top 14 rugby matches per day). In the case of a competition or part of a competition organized on a knockout basis, this provision applies as of the organization of a number of matches strictly greater than seven on the same day.
In the case of the diffusion of images from a sports competition lasting six minutes or less, taken under the right to short extracts, the duration of the extracts does not exceed 25% of the total duration of the competition, with no limit of less than 15 seconds.
6. Length of time brief extracts are made available to the public by a television service that does not hold the rights to the same images of the competition or event concerned on its catch-up TV service.
Brief extracts made available to the public by a catch-up TV service that does not hold exclusive rights are made available to the public for a maximum period of seven days from the first diffusion on the television service whose programs the catch-up TV service repeats.
7. Diversity of sporting disciplines shown as part of the diffusion of short extracts
Television service editors who use brief excerpts from sports competitions as part of their news programmes, as defined in the present resolution, must ensure that a minimum of twenty-four sports disciplines are actually shown each year in these programmes, for the purpose of broadcasting brief excerpts. This minimum volume takes into account the diversity of the sports shown (men's, women's, adapted).
This resolution will be effective from January1, 2015. A progress report will be drawn up within six months of its adoption, based on the practices observed and the experience acquired during this period.
Deliberation no. 2013-2 of January 15, 2013 on the conditions for showing brief excerpts from sports competitions and non-sports events of major interest to the public is abrogated as of the entry into force of the present deliberation.
The present resolution will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Paris, October1, 2014.
For the French Superior Audiovisual Council:
Le président,
O. Schrameck