VAT rise: Canal+ threatens to scale back support for cinema

Tensions are rising between Canal+ and the government. As the executive puts together its 2027 budget, Maxime Saada is openly challenging plans to scrap the reduced VAT rate applied to pay television. The Canal+ boss describes the move as "political" and "absurd", and says it would mean an additional cost of around 200 million euros a year for the group. According to him, moving VAT from 10% to 20% could lead to higher subscription prices, but also internal cost-cutting and job losses."

We cannot absorb 200 million euros", the executive essentially argues, warning that Canal+ will have to revisit its spending. Cinema as a means of pressureCanal+ plays a pivotal role in funding French cinema. In 2025, the group invested 155.6 million euros in French films and helped finance 148 productions. It accounts for almost half of the investment made by traditional private broadcasters. Any cut in its spending could therefore have a direct impact on production. This is exactly where the threat is being felt.

Canal+ is required to invest 980 million euros in French and European cinema between 2028 and 2032. But Maxime Saada warns that if VAT is doubled, these commitments could be cut back. He even raises the prospect of financing "perhaps three-quarters fewer films". This stand-off comes against a backdrop of already heightened tensions around Canal+. In May, Saada announced that the group no longer wished to work with the signatories of an op-ed criticising Vincent Bolloré's influence.

Since then, the Human Rights League and the CGT-Spectacle union have taken legal action, denouncing what they see as discrimination based on opinions. With its 2027 budget, the government is looking to bring the public deficit down from 5.4% to 5% of GDP. The VAT hike on Canal+ is part of this hunt for extra revenue, but it opens up a new front with a group determined to defend its profit margins and its role in French cultural production.