A pan-European snapshot

Austria

• Currently (June 2011 editor’s note) around 64% of screens are digital, mainly through a VPF deal agreed with XDC
• Negotiations are underway to secure a VPF deal for those sites which have already digitised from their own resources or have yet to do so

Belgium

• Currently around 80% of screens have been converted

Denmark

• A plan for the whole sector digital roll-out is in place, offering every cinema approximately
• € 26,000 in state support
• Currently 176 screens are digital out of 399 (44%)
• Cinema chain Nordisk Film Biografer (with a 43% market share) has agreed a VPF deal with XDC

France

• In September 2010 it became a legal requirement for distributors to provide a VPF to exhibitors and create a general scheme for all cinemas for digital roll out
• CNC and local authorities provide public subsidies for the smallest cinemas
• By mid 2011 nearly 50% of the 5,400 screens have been digitised

Germany

• Approximately 1,900 out of 4,700 screens in total are currently digital (40%)
• Nearly 65% are 3D
• 2011 - the Government and the Federal Filmboardstarted a special support system for 1,500 "criteria screens” which also get support from the 16 regional governments and the distributors for the first change from analogue to digital
• No support for the rest of the cinemas (the “market cinemas”)

Luxembourg

• All screens (23) operated by the two largest companies are currently digital
• A government support scheme has been launched to ensure full digitisation in the country by the end of Summer of 2011
  

Italy

• Self financing but with a government funded tax credit available up to December 2013
• Representatives from distribution and exhibition have agreed a set of guidelines governing VPF models (apart from those operated by ‘third party’ entities)
• Further support will be required for smaller cinemas seeking to digitise

The Netherlands

• The digitisation of over 500 screens has recently begun through the collective buying group initiative, Cinema Digitaal BV, a scheme partly supported by €5.4 million from the Dutch government
• All circuit and independent sites in the Netherlands are part of this buying group with the exception of Pathé, Euroscoop and Utopolis
• 16 independent distributors have signed up to the scheme
• Roll-out is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012 at the latest

Norway

• National roll-out of digital cinema technology across 420 screens over the last 12 months
• The country is now fully digitised
• Back-up, reporting and accounting systems are all in place

Russia and the CIS

• Almost 50% screens in Russia are digital (1,179 out of about 2,500 modern screens). Almost all of them are 3D enabled
• D-Cinema roll out carried out without any support from the state or from the film distributors.
• VPF deals are still being negotiated
• In CIS countries, which form a common cinema market with Russia, there are 177 D-Cinema screens, including 63 in Ukraine and 44 in Kazakhstan

Spain

• No national roll out plan or public subsidies for digital cinema
• Operators are investing their own funds
• At the beginning of May there were 928 digital screens (about 23% of total screens) and 735 of these are 3D screens
• From 1st January to 30th April 2011 digital screens (2D+3D) represented 29% of the country’s box office.