unsuccessful call for tenders, non-participation of Canal +… We explain to you why the sale of TV rights turns into a fiasco

Since October 2023, the LFP has been trying to sell Ligue 1 TV rights for the period 2024-2029 but is struggling to find an agreement with the broadcasters.

On which channel will it be possible to watch Ligue 1 from August 16? Less than two months before the resumption of the championship, the answer is still not clear since the Professional Football League (LFP) has not officially signed with a broadcaster. From the failure of the call for tenders launched last fall, to the cancellation of the meeting between the president of the LFP Vincent Labrune and the president of Canal +, Maxime Saada, the situation has been bogged down since several months. To understand it, we have to go back to September 12.

September – October 2023: the failure of the call for tenders

It was on this date that the Professional Football League launched its call for tenders for the sale of TV rights to Ligue 1, for a period of five years (compared to four previously), between 2024 and 2029. Two lots of live matches are offered for sale. One called premium, at 530 million euros, includes the best matches, the other, at 270 million euros, the other six matches. Three other lots including “magazines”, weekend or weekday broadcasts, are also part of the call for tenders. In total, the LFP hopes to raise 800 million euros per year and even a billion euros by adding the rights to Ligue 1 abroad.

Problem, this call for tenders is unsuccessful. The day after the closing of applications, on October 17, the LFP announced that none of the lots had been awarded even though it had “received several qualitative offers and financial guarantee schemes on all lots”. The French body then launches into over-the-counter negotiations with interested media, where there is no longer any constraint on the price. Among the potential candidates, Prime Video, BeIN Sports and the sports streaming platform DAZN. A time mentioned, Apple ultimately does not participate in the discussions.

The Canal + case

Canal +, historic broadcaster of Ligue 1 since 1984, was not part of the first negotiations. And for good reason, on September 25, the encrypted channel announced that it would not participate in the call for tenders due to the conditions of the latter. In a letter addressed to the president of the LFP Vincent Labrune, the boss of the encrypted channel wrote that the criteria “have convinced us that your only objective was to exclude Canal + and favor Amazon”. Maxime Saada added : “You have constantly penalized Canal +“.

A reference to the Médiapro affair, which strained relations between the historic broadcaster of Ligue 1 and the LFP. During the sale of broadcasting rights for the period 2020-2024, the Sino-Spanish group won three of the seven lots put up for sale for 800 million euros. But by October, the company had been unable to pay and the TV rights had been redistributed. In June 2021, Amazon had recovered 80% of matches for 250 million euros per year. Free, for 42 million euros per season, offered “almost live” the best extracts from matches for its customers. For its part, Canal + had obtained two matches per day, bought from beIN Sport for 332 million euros. Feeling wronged, the encrypted channel then entered into conflict with the League and took the matter to court, without winning its case.

November 2023 – May 2024: the beIN option

From the fall of 2023, beIN sport has become the privileged interlocutor of the LFP, the relations between Vincent Labrune and the president of PSG Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and Yousef Al-Obaidly, the two leaders of the Qatari channel, being, them, in good spirits. They are also quickly agreed on the sum of 700 million euros per year, in exchange for all Ligue 1 matches for beIN.

However, the Qatari channel has, to date, still not given its approval because it wishes to renegotiate its distribution contract with Canal +. Currently, the encrypted channel pays around 250 million euros per season for the broadcast of two matches per day. And refuses, for the moment, to revise its distribution contract upwards, according to the LFP and beIN, which Canal + refutes. Not abandoned, this solution has therefore been put on “stand-by”.

June 5, 2024: plan B for a 100% football channel

Faced with this situation, the LFP proposed a “plan B”. It aims to create a 100% Ligue 1 channel at 25 euros per month, without exclusivity : internet service providers like Orange and SFR and streaming platforms could thus broadcast the matches. An option validated by the League’s board of directors, Wednesday June 5.

During this meeting, the call for tenders for Ligue 2 TV rights was also launched. It was initially planned for the fall but was postponed due to the failure of that concerning Ligue 1. The sale of Ligue 1 rights internationally is continuing its course. Although all the rights have not yet been sold, the LFP has already signed agreements with the Swiss company Infront and with Saran Media. For the moment, no amount has been announced, but the League has confirmed to its members that the total sale should reach 160 million euros compared to 80 million for the period 2020-2024.

June 19, 2024: towards a return of Canal?

Latest development to date: franceinfo: sport has had confirmation of the cancellation of a meeting between Maxime Saada, the boss of Canal + and Vincent Labrune, Wednesday June 19. This interview, which should have been the first between the LFP and the encrypted channel, suggests that Canal + could finally take part in the negotiations, even if its CEO has, for the moment, always claimed the opposite.

In the meantime, the LFP board of directors must meet again, Friday June 21, to take stock of the progress of the negotiations. A new stage point must also take place next week. And the general assembly of the LFP, which was to be held on June 5, was postponed.at the end of June“in hope to present a definitive agreement on TV rights for Ligue 1. Soon the end of the series?