The encrypted channel will have to continue broadcasting two Ligue 1 matches per day until 2023.
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The status quo is finally extended. Canal+ will have to continue to broadcast Ligue 1 and pay for French football TV rights. The encrypted channel was dismissed by the Versailles Court of Appeal, in a dispute between it and beIN Sports, according to a judgment rendered on Thursday March 31, of which AFP obtained a copy.
Forced by the courts to honor its part of the contract this summer, the channel failed on appeal on Thursday and will have to continue broadcasting two league matches per day (lot 3, which concerns Saturday 9 p.m. and Sunday 5:05 p.m.) at a price of 332 million euros per season.
It is a success for beIN Sports, but also for the Professional Football League (LFP), systematically confirmed by the courts in recent months in this interminable conflict which opposes it to its historical broadcasters, Canal and beIN.
By choosing to entrust the majority of matches to a new entrant, Amazon, to the detriment of the encrypted channel last June, the LFP had nevertheless exposed itself to the resentment of the Vivendi subsidiary, which has multiplied its appeals, without success so far. .
Canal+ indeed considers itself “unable to assert their rights” against Amazon, which pays only 250 million euros per year for 80% of the matches (including the ten best posters), against 332 million euros per year for its competitor, holder of 20% of the meetings.