Media 2007

Period: 2007-2013

Budget: EUR 755 million

This new Community action for the audiovisual industry should contribute to translating European cultural values into a competitive worldwide industry and creating a favourable socio-economic environment for the European audiovisual sector. It aims at stimulating private financing for the sector (particularly to SMEs) in order to enable companies active in the audiovisual sector to improve their competitiveness.

Community action in the audiovisual field will be integrated to a single programme, MEDIA 2007, that will replace the current programmes (MEDIA Plus and MEDIA-Training Programmes) due to end in 2006.

The main objectives of the programme are to:

• Preserve and enhance European cultural diversity and its audiovisual heritage

• Increase the circulation of European audiovisual works inside and outside of the European Union

• Strengthen the competitiveness of the audiovisual sector

The programme supports the following actions to meet its given objectives:

• The acquisition and improvement of skills in the audiovisual field and the development of European audiovisual works.

• The distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works

• Pilot projects to ensure that the programme to adjust to market developments

Within the framework of Media 2007 programme, community action will intervene in both pre-production and post-production phases.

1. Specific objectives and interventions in pre-production phases:

• Acquisition and improvement of skills in the audiovisual sector: Under this section of the programme projects aiming at improving the creative and management skills of European audiovisual professionals as well as adapting their technical skills to digital technologies. The actions put in place will be grants to training projects with a European added value. I addition, special scholarships for professionals from new MS will be established, with a view to enabling those professionals to meet the challenges of the enlarged European audiovisual market.

• Development: The programme will provide grants to independent production companies for the development of single projects. It will support the development of catalogue works both for companies with the limited investment capacity and for companies with higher investment capacity. This support aims at facilitating access to finance for SMEs and attract private investment into the industry.

2. Specific objectives and interventions in post-production phases:

• Distribution: Support for the distribution phase (cinema, TV, DVD, and on-line) remains a priority for the competitiveness of the industry. The new programme aims at strengthening the European distribution sector by encouraging investment in production, acquisition, marketing and promotion of non-national European works and by encouraging co-ordinated marketing strategies between the different actors of the sector. In line with the priority of digitisation, actions will be implemented to support the digitisation of European audiovisual works.

• Promotion: Under this phase the programme will encourage co-operation and co-ordination of European operators through the support of common actions.

Indicative budget breakdown of the programme:

Training: 7%

Development: 20%

Distribution: 55%

Promotion: 9%

Pilot projects: 4%

MEDIA Desks and European Audiovisual Observatory: 5%

Depending on the type of action, financial aid may take the form of grants or scholarships, though it may not exceed 50% of the final costs of the operation supported.

The programme is open to participation of the following third countries: EFTA States, accession and Western Balkan countries. The programme is also open to the participation States that are parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Transfrontier Television. The beneficiaries of the programme may be natural persons.

More information