Here are the 14 recommendations it makes.

Recommendation 1: Financial aid for the installation or upgrading of digital equipment in cinemas should be restricted to projectors of at least 2K resolution conforming to French AFNOR industry norms.

2: Cinemas equipped with projectors of less than 2K resolution should not be excluded from CNC financing as long as digital screening is secondary to 35mm.

3: Financial assistance should not take into account the compression format used in systems. It is preferable to encourage flexibility in servers.

4: Committees giving grants should consider adopting as a criterion the diversification of individual cinemas.

5: The Technical Standards Council should be given the task of reviewing plans to install digital projection systems, checking the operational compatibility of the various items the cinema would like to buy.

6: Producers should be obliged to ensure that by 2009 or 2010, all French films are available for distribution in a digital format.

7: The European Commission should be persuaded to facilitate the expansion of digital post-production on European films.

8: There is urgent need for an annual guide giving a neutral, technical appraisal and rating of the digital projection equipment installed in each cinema.

9: The CNC must immediately begin considering a tender for an independent technical body which will – on the CNC’s behalf – generate and manage the security key codes needed to read the films.

10: The CNC should consider, together with regional authorities, how to integrate cinemas into new technology networks.

11: Work must be done to organise the mechanism for payment by distributors of an extra key fee via the body which will generate and manage the key codes.

12: There needs to be a study of the feasibility of creating a pool of investors – guaranteed for example by the IFCIC – which will assist independent exhibitors in re-equipping their cinemas.

13: The CNC should consider altering the financial grant system, or setting up a special fund,  to give greater support to cinemas which are at greater risk, for example those with only one screen.

14: The CNC should consider altering the financial grant system, or setting up a special fund,  to give greater support to less secure distributors, particularly those who will mount small-scale releases on both 35mm and digital formats.

The entire report is available in French at the CNC website, www.cnc.fr.

Abridged version of the report: Pdf.