Banijay CEO Bassetti urges European producers to fight Hollywood over terms of trade
Key Takeaway: Speaking at Rome’s MIA Market, Marco Bassetti said the real battle is getting studios and streamers to recognise ‘rewards for creativity’ through producer ownership of IP.
Banijay Entertainment chief executive Marco Bassetti used a fireside session at Rome’s MIA Market on Monday to urge European producers to hold their line against Hollywood studios and streamers in negotiations over terms of trade.
The central fight, he argued, is not over Brussels investment quotas, which he dismissed as “entirely pointless”, but over getting studios and streamers to recognise and provide rewards for creativity, above all through producers keeping ownership of their intellectual property.
Quotas are “entirely pointless”
Bassetti told the Rome audience that the legislative struggle in Brussels misses the point. According to Variety, he said “the current battle [in Brussels] over [investment] quotas is instead entirely pointless.” The EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive requires foreign streamers to invest a share of revenue in local productions, leaving the details to each country, but Bassetti argued that compliance alone does not fix the structural imbalance.
“If the streamers just treat production companies as mere service providers it’s a problem,” he warned. On whether the balance of power is shifting, he was blunt: “The reality is that we have no ownership, and it’s extremely difficult to secure any, though things are starting to open up a bit. There’s some movement regarding ‘windows’ (the sequence of release platforms), but it’s only a partial shift. Ultimately, they [the studios and the streamers] still have total control,” Variety reported.
“Who invests in creativity? It’s us independent producers,” Bassetti said, adding: “The real fight should focus on studios and streamers recognizing and providing rewards for creativity”.
Marco Bassetti, to Variety
The English model: keep the IP
Bassetti pointed to the UK as proof that a fairer model exists. “But when I work for a TV network, especially in countries like England, I retain ownership of the intellectual property,” he said. “If I sell a series, the rights eventually revert to me after three years and there’s a built-in incentive for the creator.” Variety reported that he described this as the norm in Europe: “Here in Europe, we’re accustomed to a system like that”.
The MIA Market’s own account of the session echoed the theme, writing that Bassetti sees retaining production rights and expanding content catalogues as strategic tools for generating long-term value, according to MIA Market.
Scale as a bargaining chip
Bassetti spoke from the helm of a newly enlarged group. Variety valued the Banijay-All3Media combination, completed with RedBird IMI two months ago, at $8 billion, while The Hollywood Reporter put the resulting entity’s combined revenues at $8.5 billion, spanning nearly 200 production labels across 25 territories with a catalogue of more than 265,000 hours of content.
“We want to define ourselves as an entertainment company,” Bassetti said. “We are producers on a global scale, we have to be big. But if we want to define the market everywhere, we’re small,” The Hollywood Reporter reported. He named Alphabet and Meta as exponentially growing Silicon Valley competitors, and cited the Paramount takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which he said would produce 30 feature films and 80 series a year, calling David Ellison, CEO of the combined studio, a friend.
On where audiences are going, the MIA Market account says Bassetti flagged younger viewers watching YouTube, including on television screens, the growing importance of live content, and artificial intelligence as an opportunity to optimise processes and cut production support costs.
“You have to look at how much you invest, and the return on investment,” Bassetti said.
Marco Bassetti, to The Hollywood Reporter
Key Story Metrics
| Figure | Reported Status |
|---|---|
| Banijay-All3Media deal value | $8 billion (Variety; deal value) |
| Combined revenues | $8.5 billion (The Hollywood Reporter; combined revenues) |
| Production labels / territories | nearly 200 labels across 25 territories (THR) |
| Content catalogue | 265,000+ hours (Variety) |
| Paramount-WBD output cited by Bassetti | 30 films and 80 series a year (THR; Bassetti’s figure) |
✓ Verified
Marco Bassetti is CEO of Banijay Entertainment, described by Variety as London-based and the world’s largest independent studio. He spoke at a fireside session at the MIA Market in Rome on Oct. 19, 2026 (MIA 2026 runs Oct. 19-23), moderated by Marco Chimenz, co-founder of Cattleya and Strategic Consultant to MIA 2026. He urged European producers to hold their ground negotiating terms of trade with US studios and streamers, arguing the real fight is over recognition and rewards for creativity through producer retention of IP rights. Banijay’s IP includes The Traitors, Big Brother, MasterChef, Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror.
⚠ Still needs confirmation
Single-source details, attributed in the text: the AVMS Directive quotas context and Bassetti’s ‘entirely pointless’ remark (Variety); the three-year IP reversion model (Variety); the $8 billion deal value (Variety) versus $8.5 billion combined revenues (THR); nearly 200 labels across 25 territories (THR); the 265,000-hour catalogue (Variety); Alphabet and Meta named as competitors (THR); the Paramount-WBD 30-films/80-series figure and the ‘friend’ remark about David Ellison (THR); the Mipcom/Cannes US-scripted hint (Variety); audience-habit and AI remarks (MIA Market’s own account).
- Variety: Nick Vivarelli, Oct 19 2026
- The Hollywood Reporter: Etan Vlessing, Oct 19 2026
- MIA Market (official): Oct 19 2026
Editor’s note: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter state different figures for the Banijay-All3Media combination: an $8 billion deal value versus $8.5 billion in combined revenues. Both figures are reported here as each outlet stated them.
