The French Parliament "has adopted an amendment to the country's so-called 'Buffet' tax on sports broadcasts affecting events that only take place partially in France," according to L'EQUIPE. Until now, the Buffet tax "allowed the state a levy of 5% on the marketing of audiovisual exploitation rights for sports competitions organized in France by companies established in France." But this tax "does not affect events" sanctioned by non-French organizations, "such as matches of the Blues RBS Six Nations at the Stade de France or Paris St. Germain's Champions League home games, to name a few." It is these TV rights on which the state "wants to make money." As it is not possible to tax foreign rights holders, the government therefore "returns to the buyers of these TV rights: broadcasters, which all will now contribute 5% of what they pay" for the rights. The new tax could bring in €41M ($56.4M) for the National Centre for the Development of Sport (CNDS) "to finance and produce TV programs dedicated to sport for all, in short, the less publicized disciplines" (L'EQUIPE, 12/7).
