http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/04/technology/sarkotv.4-423104.php?WT.mc_id=techalert
France backs new way to finance public TV Bloomberg News Wednesday, February 4, 2009 PARIS: The French Parliament passed a bill Wednesday to create new taxes on telecommunications companies and private broadcasters and increased the television license fee to finance an advertising ban on prime-time public television. The senators voted 177 to 159 in favor of legislation that was adopted by the lower house Tuesday. Members of Parliament who opposed the bill said they might take their case to the Constitutional Council, the highest legislative court in France, potentially delaying its enactment by several weeks. During discussions in the past two months, lawmakers amended President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposals by introducing breaks on the new taxes on some of the country's biggest companies, including France Télécom, the Vivendi unit SFR, Iliad and Bouygues Télécom, and on private broadcasters like Société Télévision Française 1, M6-Metropole Télévision and Canal Plus. "The taxes will fetch less than initially planned," Catherine Morin-Desailly, a senator of the Nouveau Centre party, which belongs to the government coalition, said during an interview before the vote. She did not have a total estimate for the tax breaks, and said a higher TV license fee would make up for some of the lost revenue, while the rest would come from the government budget. To make up for €450 million, or $582 million, in lost revenue at the public broadcaster, Sarkozy, who ordered the advertising ban on France Télévisions, had proposed a 0.9 percent tax on the telecommunications companies' sales, and a 0.3 percent tax on ad revenue of private broadcasters. The tax breaks will trim revenue to €325 million, La Tribune reported Tuesday, without saying where it got the information. Senators have allowed phone companies to shave expenditure amortized over more than 10 years, like fiber-optic investment, from the taxable base of a new levy. That will trim tax revenue by about €10 million, according to Morin-Desailly. She also said a tax break avoiding a double taxation of private broadcasters would cut revenue by €5 million. Phone companies will be allowed to exempt revenue of their TV operations from the taxable base. Lawmakers have also reduced the tax on private broadcasters, which was initially designed to bring in €80 million, by as much as 50 percent from 2009 to 2011 because of the drop in the ad market. Members of Parliament also raised the license fee paid by TV owners to 118 euros this year and €120 in 2010 from €116 last year, even as Sarkozy was in favor of no increase. The legislation allows private broadcasters to add a second advertising break in the middle of movie broadcasting. It also allows them to air nine minutes of ads an hour, up from six minutes. ------------------------------------ -- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTMedia mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [email protected], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE Share media news, discuss journalism issues and network with media professionals across South Asia on this mailing list. Just write to [email protected] TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTMedia by sending a blank mail to [email protected] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
