France on Monday narrowed the windows between a film’s release and its debut on other platforms.Titles will move to video-on-demand four months after they hit cinema screens instead of the present 7½ months under a new “media chronology” to which the industry and the government have agreed. The change puts VOD on a par with DVD release.

Pay TV webs will get titles 10 months after cinema release rather than 12 months. Free TV takes over at 22 months rather than at 24-36 months.

Gaul is unusual in having a highly regulated set of release windows overseen by the government and the industry, including exhibitors, distributors, producers, broadcast organizations and new-media companies.

Supplementing the linear network’s coverage, Speedtv.com will stream portions of this years Le Mans 24 Hours race on June 13-14.

When Speed is not providing its 19 hours of live coverage from Circuit de la Sarthe, Speedtv.com, in conjunction with Radio Le Mans, will stream the action during noon-to- 4:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.-to-midnight windows on June 13.

On this occasion, NPA Conseil and www.tvarevoir.fr developed a catch-up TV indicator. The fist study measures the proportion of programs broadcast between March 15 and 21, 2009 that were made available online and on demand by national TV channels . It shows that national channels (TF1, France 2, France 3, Canal+, France 5, M6 & Arte) offer more than half of their hour volume broadcast during major audience hours (17:00 to 24:00) on catch-up TV services. Entertainment, information and magazines (especially those on access prime-time) are the main programs available. Prime-time programs (films and TV series) are seldom available, as they are often proposed for rentals.