CEPI, the European AV Production Association, welcomes a major step forward for the Co-production of TV Series across Council of Europe Member States

Brussels, November 26th, 2025 - Today, CEPI, the European Audiovisual Production Association, welcomes the adoption of the Convention on the Co-production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. This landmark agreement, the first international convention dedicated specifically to TV series, represents a major advance for independent European production.

The new Convention establishes a modern framework that facilitates the recognition of European and international co-productions and strengthens their access to national funding mechanisms. By introducing a flexible, voluntary system, it:

• significantly enhances collaboration opportunities for European co-producers,

• broadens access to cross-border financing, and

• supports the wider circulation of culturally diverse stories across Europe.

This news reflects several years of CEPI’s sustained policy and advocacy work at European level.

Speaking in support, CEPI President Anthony Muldoon said, “This Convention strengthens independent producers, supports fairer access to rights and revenues, and promotes the transparency our industry needs. The spirit of the independent production sector is strong in this Convention, and it will enable European producers to craft stories across borders with greater ease and flexibility, helping more original European stories reach European audiences.

CEPI strongly welcomes the Convention and looks forward to supporting its implementation and working with European institutions, national authorities, and industry partners to ensure that these new opportunities for co-production translate into more ambitious, diverse, and widely circulated European series. We are very grateful to the hard work of the Council of Europe staff who have drafted the Convention and supported its adoption. We are also very thankful for their cooperation during the debate on the Convention.”

Notes for the editor:

Independent producers today face increasing structural imbalances, particularly in negotiations with major broadcasters and global platforms. The Convention addresses this by improving access to funding, encouraging fairer contractual provisions, and helping producers retain a share of rights and revenues. At the same time, it explicitly acknowledges the essential role of public and private broadcasters in developing, producing, and distributing audiovisual content.

The Convention recognises the role of the independent producer in the promotion of cultural diversity and “their important role in initiating, assembling creative elements of, developing and producing audiovisual works in the form of series”. Independent producers are indispensable partners for writers, directors, and other creative talent. They enable the emergence of stories from a wide range of cultures, communities and linguistic backgrounds, contributing directly to the objectives set out in the European Cultural Convention and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. 

CEPI strongly supports the Convention’s provisions ensuring that independent co-producers receive an ownership share of rights and revenues from the series they develop and produce. The Convention clearly states that exploitation rights cannot be licensed in perpetuity and that the duration of licences must allow independent producers to benefit from the residual value of their works fully. 

These measures are vital for the sustainability of independent companies. Given that many projects developed by independents do not progress to production, access to a fair share of rights and future revenues is essential for reinvestment in new development and for maintaining a vibrant pipeline of European drama series.

The Convention introduces a crucial obligation on media service providers and their subsidiaries to provide audience data and information on the exploitation of officially co-produced series to all independent co-producers and to the competent public authorities. 

For independent producers, transparency regarding viewing statistics is key to understanding the performance of their series, planning future works, and ensuring accountability in publicly funded productions. These types of data-sharing practices already exist within public service media; the Convention rightly generalises them to all entities involved in the exploitation of series.

Finally, the Convention provides for two criteria to be taken into account in defining what is an independent producer, if a Member State does not have such a definition: 

• the company is not majority controlled, either directly or indirectly, by a media service provider;

• the company does not solely or to a large extent depend on a single or group of media service providers for the financing of its works; it assumes the responsibility for the delivery of its works and can make decisions on the distribution using a variety of players.

This definition brings clarity and coherence across the European audiovisual landscape, ensuring that the Convention’s benefits genuinely support independent creativity and entrepreneurship.

CEPI believes that the Convention strikes the right balance between the different interests at stake, independent producers, broadcasters, media service providers and national funding bodies, while promoting greater trust, cooperation and cultural diversity throughout Europe.

On 26 November 2025, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Convention on the Co-Production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series. The Convention will be opened for signature in early 2026 at a special ceremony and then enters a phase of signature and ratification by member states of the Council of Europe or states party to the European Cultural Convention. It will enter into force once three states have ratified it. The timeline will depend on the pace of national procedures.

Find the official Council of Europe press release here: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/council-of-europe-adopts-convention-on-the-co-production-of-audiovisual-works-in-the-form-of-series

About CEPI

CEPI, the European Audiovisual Production association, represents more than 2,600 independent producers across 17 countries. CEPI embraces every day a changing audiovisual landscape and its new digital opportunities.

Our members produce a wide and diverse range of high level content that our audience like to watch at the cinema and on TV.

National associations of independent producers and pan-European associations such as Animation Europe have joined CEPI and commit to strengthen and promote a healthy and competitive European independent audiovisual sector.

For media queries please contact:

Margaux Chielle, Policy Advisor

margaux.chielle@europe-analytica.com