Policies supporting audiovisual production. The risks of possible unexpected effects

This article analyzes the Italian and European policies in support of the audiovisual industry starting from the transposition of the Directive on digital platforms at the end of 2021 which introduced: an increase in investment obligations for on-demand providers, some further sub-quotas for genres and Italian production, a new regulation of the relationship between audiovisual media service providers and independent producers with particular reference to the duration of exploitation rights. These types of measures have the declared shareable objective of protecting and supporting Italian audiovisual production, but they may generate counterintuitive effects for various reasons related to the current trends in the international audiovisual industry and to the economic features of audiovisual production. The potential risks of these measures include: a lower competitiveness of the Italian audiovisual both on the domestic market and in exports; a lower orientation towards maximizing production value on the part of Italian producers with the consequence of creating products that fail to be successful in international markets; an increase in the costs of artistic production factors for national productions due to the rigidity imposed by the regulations and the costs associated with bureaucracy with the consequent risk that international players reduce their investments in Italy.