An audiovisual fund for Slovakia – an hypothesis

Presentation to the European Opportunities for Our Cinema IIIBratislava, 6 – 7 December 2004

Jonathan Davis

Overview

The European political context The problem What a viable Slovakian audiovisual sector

would look like How much it would cost How it would be paid for Conclusions

The European political context The Lisbon Agenda MEDIA 2007 Eurimages Cultural diversity Structural funds

The problem

Very low audiovisual consumption Inadequate audiovisual infrastructure Insufficient production (film and TV)

= vicious circle Compounded by:

Too many advertising-supported TV channels Under-funded public broadcaster

What a viable Slovakian audiovisual sector would look like Stronger STV – 1,200 hours/year of peak-

time programming 12 feature films/year Slovaks visiting the cinema 3 times a year

(18 million admissions) Slovak homes, institutions and businesses

connected to broadband

How much it would cost

STV budget of Sk 3 billion (75 million euros) Annual investment in film production of Sk

500 million (12 million euros) Annual investment in audiovisual

infrastructure of Sk 40 billion over next five years

How it would be paid for

Creation of a “Public Service Production Fund” (Film, TV, broadband content) of Sk 2 billion (50 million euros) annually funded out of tax on TV advertising and subscription revenues, on cinema box office, home video revenues, telecom and Internet Service Provider revenues

National Information Society Development Programme supported by EU Structural Funds

Creation of a 50 million euro “Visograd Solidarity Fund”, funded by European Bank of Reconstruction and Development

Conclusions

Need to break the vicious circle The production problem should be addressed

in the context of an Information Society Plan The political underpinning is economic

development AND cultural diversity Slovakia needs to work closely with its

neighbours and fellow EU member states