Streaming platforms including Netflix have criticised Germany’s ruling to boost local film content through levies as “protectionist”. The country’s government is seeking to force them to reinvest a larger share of revenues in exchange for subsidies.

The government has proposed a doubling film subsidies to €250 million this year, from €133 million in 2025. In return it will require that streaming platforms reinvest between 8 and 12 per cent of sales in other European projects, compared with between 1.8 and 2.5 per cent previously.

“We have decided across party lines to give the domestic film industry more money than ever before with the Filmbooster,” commented Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer. “At the same time, we are significantly increasing the obligations of streaming providers and broadcasters, but also giving them leeway through the opening clause.”

The draft legislation also introduces a clause for producers to regain rights to their films after seven years. The plan comes as US streaming groups increasingly film overseas to escape rising costs at home.  With a compulsory reinvestment rate of 8 to 12 per cent, Germany would be in the European mid-range — between Spain and Denmark’s 5 per cent rate and France’s 20 per cent. Individual countries operate different models, with France having reinvestment rules but a different incentives framework and the UK offering tax incentives.

Netflix’s director of public policy in Germany, Wolf Osthaus, warned that forcing firms to reinvest might actually curb growth in the German market. “If regulation ultimately makes it harder to invest in ambitious projects and, as a result, fewer titles are produced overall, that benefits neither audiences nor the production location,” he told the FT.

Germany has struggled to recover as a filming location since the pandemic. TV and film production volume in the country has grown only 1.4 per cent in the past four years, compared with 15.2 per cent for the whole of Europe, according to a study by the European Audiovisual Observatory.

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Tags: germany, production