Netflix has published a letter about an appeal it lodged with France’s Council of State calling out the windowing rules which force the streamer to wait 15 months to access newly released films.

Such rules, which have largely been responsible for the absence of Netflix at the Cannes Film Festival, apply to all pay and free TV channels and subscription-based services. Simply put, their level of investment in theatrical movies determines their access to films after their release in cinemas.

These windowing guidelines are intertwined with France’s application of the E.U.’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Avms), which sets local content quotas for streamers across Europe starting 2022. Back then, Netflix was the only streamer to sign a three-year agreement to invest 20% of its revenues in France on local content. As such, the streamer gained an access to films 15 months after their theatrical release rather than the 36-month wait that applied previously.