On the basis of the German Film Subsidy Act (FFG), television broadcasters and program marketers must pay a film tax to the German Federal Film Board (FFA). In order to calculate how high the film tax is for you, you must notify the FFA of your theatrical film share or your revenues, depending on your business model.
The amount of the film tax is calculated as follows:

• Public broadcasters pay 3 percent of their theatrical film costs for the year before last. The costs include licensing costs, pro rata program distribution and administration costs as well as co-production contributions to theatrical films.
• Free-to-air private television broadcasters pay between 0.15% and 0.95% of their net advertising revenue from the year before last. The specific amount depends on the proportion of total broadcasting time devoted to cinema films. Offers are exempt from the film levy
  • with a theatrical film share of less than 2 percent or
  • if the net advertising revenue is less than EUR 750,000.
• Pay-TV broadcasters and program marketers (pay-TV) pay 0.25 percent of their net sales generated in Germany in the year before last from subscription contracts or individual payments. Marketers are exempt from the film levy
  • with a theatrical film share of less than 2 percent in relation to the pay-TV package or
  • if their total net revenue from these offers is less than EUR 750,000.
• Television broadcasters can provide up to 40 percent of the film levy as a media service, i.e. in the form of advertising time for cinema films. It should be noted here that the film tax replaced as a media service must be increased by half.

The film tax is used to finance all measures of the German Federal Film Board (FFA).