Overview
- The cabinet approved the draft law Wednesday that would force streaming services and pay broadcasters to reinvest at least 8% of revenue earned in Germany into German and wider European film and TV production.
- The bill would nearly double public film funding to €250 million and set a 12% reinvestment threshold for certain exemptions and a 75% penalty on any shortfall that platforms fail to invest.
- Streaming platforms and industry groups warned the rules could make big, co‑financed projects harder to fund and interfere with editorial and business autonomy, and Netflix criticised proposed rights‑sharing and return provisions.
- U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the draft may violate the newly implemented Turnberry EU‑U.S. trade agreement by creating a digital trade barrier, a claim Berlin rejects by citing EU audiovisual rules and national precedents in France and Italy.
- The measure still needs parliamentary approval, and lawmakers, industry and trade lawyers will now debate enforcement details, legal risks under the Turnberry pact, and how the rules might change where and what types of productions are made in Germany.