100 days before streaming release: theaters call for excluvise window extension

The Spanish Cinema Federation (FECE), an association that represents major cinema exhibition companies, is calling for a guaranteed 100 days in theaters for all films. They are making this request to the Ministry of Culture as an «urgent and essential measure to ensure the recovery of cinema theaters.» The association of theaters aims to return to an exhibition window similar to the one before the pandemic, which reduced the mandatory days prior to streaming release to 45.

Exhibitors grouped under FECE are urging the ICAA, the autonomous body of the Ministry responsible for planning policies to support the film industry, to reinstate an exclusivity period for films in theaters. They claim that this is not unrelated to the previous Cinematography Law, which was repealed in 2015, and which «included a 3-month window for films that had received public funding.» This request from the cinema association comes precisely in the context of preparing a new Cinematography Law and anticipating more theater closures in the coming months.

Like France or Italy

According to FECE, the change to a 45-day window that occurred in 2020 «has hindered the exploitation of films in theaters, causing significant harm to cinema theaters, disrupting the communication of their releases, and delaying the sector’s recovery.» Additionally, the Federation believes that the reduction in the window has led to «misinformation being conveyed to the audience, confusing them with contradictory messages about when and where to watch films.»

To reinforce their arguments, exhibitors point to what has happened in neighboring countries like France and Italy. In France, which is one of the countries most staunchly defending theaters, a 15-month window was established in February – down from the previous 36 months – between cinema release and streaming (rental) release. Meanwhile, the Italian senate approved a requirement last week to set this window at 90 days.

For all these reasons, the Spanish Cinema Federation considers the «restructuring of the sector urgent and necessary» through this measure. FECE claims that box office revenue in theaters has fallen by 42% compared to the average of the years prior to the pandemic (2017-2019), for an exhibition sector that generates «nearly 32,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs,» and where every euro generated directly «creates an additional €2.67 in the economy».

Cover Image: Interior of Cine Embajadores theater in Madrid, 2020. Photo: Cine Embajadores.