France yesterday gave ground in its long running and often fractious battle to protect its own culture and agreed to ease draconian restrictions on the sale of Hollywood films released on DVD.

In a move that will bring Paris more into line with other European countries, France's culture ministry signalled that it was prepared to water down a controversial government edict which prevents popular American films being released on DVD for at least nine months after their first cinema showing in the country.

The ban will instead be reduced to only six months, despite frantic lobbying on the part of the French cinema industry, which derives the bulk of its revenues - at least 55% - from the screening of American feature films.

US-made films continue to provide French cinemas with their largest single source of revenue despite the fact that many of the country's cultural guardians see Hollywood as a serious threat to their own film industry.

Six of last year's top earning films in France were American, two were British and only two were French.

The financial stakes are high: France is forecast to be the European country with the largest number of sales of DVD players and DVDs next year.

There is also growing evidence that DVD sales are outstripping VHS video sales in France by a margin of about six to one.

France's decision to relax its ban on DVD sales is, in a sense, a recognition that it is fighting a losing battle.

French national daily newspaper Liberation yesterday predicted that whatever the authorities do, film enthusiasts in France can bypass the restrictions by ordering their DVDs over the internet from the US.

However, DVD has a long way to go before it surpasses the popularity of cinema-going in France. Up to 13m DVDs were sold in the country last year compared to some 155m cinema tickets.

The new decree will become law from January 1. But it is expected to have only a minimal impact upon France's homegrown film industry - experts believe it will not be viable to produce DVD versions of most French films because of their narrower appeal.