The findings have been published from the European Commission's public consultation 'Opportunities and Challenges for European Cinema in the Digital Era'. The purpose of the consultation was to gather information and views from all stakeholders on digital cinema distribution and digital projection. It will help the Commission to finalise the Communication on Opportunities and Challenges for European Cinema in the Digital Era, to be published after summer 2010, as well as a new MEDIA support scheme for the digitisation of cinemas offering substantial European programming.

More than half of the 329 responses to the consultation were received from exhibitors, and other contributions came from distributors, producers and other stakeholders from across Europe. The findings summarise opinions on technology, financing and training. Suggested future steps in the report include European public funding facilitating the creation of a European Digital Source Master (DSM) for the distributors of European non-national films. The DSM is the highest quality master, created during post-production, from which all other formats can be created - the DCDM (Digital Cinema Distribution Master), as well as a film duplication master, a home video master, and/or a master for archival purposes.

A full summary of the findings and key statistics from the consultation is available on the Commission's website.