You never get bored when it comes to TV rights for French football. A new earthquake occurred this Friday, June 11. Canal + announced on Friday that it would stop broadcasting Ligue 1 football next season, to protest the LFP’s decision to withhold Amazon’s offer. A unilateral decision taken a few minutes after the choice of the Board of Directors of the Professional Football League (LFP) to adopt a new distribution of rights between Amazon, a global e-commerce giant, and Canal + (a subsidiary Vivendi) for an annual amount of € 663 million until 2024.
« After the failure of the choice of Mediapro in 2018, Canal + regrets the decision of the Professional Football League to retain Amazon’s proposal today to the detriment of that of its historical partners Canal + and beIN Sports. Canal + will therefore not broadcast Ligue 1“, The encrypted television group announced in a statement.
According to the distribution adopted Friday by the Board of Directors of the LFP, Canal + must pay 332 million euros each season over the period 2021-2024 for two posters acquired in 2018, against 250 million annually for Amazon, which will add an extension of 9 million euros to also share the L2 with beIN Sports. The Qatari channel, which was in contention for 80% of Ligue 1 matches and 100% of Ligue 2 matches, must be satisfied for its part with two matches per day of L2 (30 million euros), the rest going to big winner Amazon for 9 million euros (plus payment of production costs, estimated at 25 million euros). The operator Free will keep the batch of extracts “quasi-direct” for 42 million euros.
Professional clubs will therefore share half as much as the loot they thought they had won (1.2 billion euros) in 2018 when they had chosen Mediapro, a Sino-Spanish broadcaster, which declared itself failing in the fall. latest. With this sum, lower than the amounts obtained (748.5 million euros) during the 2016-2020 cycle, French football, shaken by the economic consequences of the pandemic, is leaping backwards. Nevertheless, the choice of Canal + and Amazon, two financially solid companies, gives a little visibility and stability to the clubs, very dependent on TV rights, which must present a coherent budget on June 14 in front of the DNCG, financial policeman of the French football for the next season.
« With 663 million, the LFP avoids the industrial accident because the rights could have been even lower but this amount is lower than that of the TV rights for the period 2016-2020 , specifies Christophe Lepetit, sports economist at the Center for Sports Law and Economics (CDES) in Limoges. There will still be months of great difficulty for French football. We will have to quickly adjust the cost structure, in particular the fixed costs (player salaries) to a new situation, which is the amount of these TV rights versus the 1.2 billion euros initially planned, but also to the gives post-covid, which has weakened the entire football economy. »
Endorsed Friday afternoon by a vote ” unanimously by the Board of Directors (of the LFP) minus one abstention“, The choice of Canal + and Amazon was favored to the detriment of another scenario where Canal +, beIN Sports and Free were to share the L1 and L2 for 595 million euros annually, plus bonuses. If the LFP chose to favor Amazon, it is also because, in the morning, the Competition Authority rejected an appeal by Canal + against the terms of reallocation of rights left vacant by Mediapro, thus clearing the horizon legal around the case.
For Canal +, which estimated its lot of two meetings overvalued and wanted a new redistribution of the prizes and matches in connection with its ally beIN Sports, the pill is bitter. It remains to be seen whether its unilateral disengagement is really possible and the leeway available to the encrypted channel to break this contract to broadcast the lot that has linked it with beIn Sports since 2019. Indeed, having been ousted from the call for tenders Initial by Mediapro in 2018, Canal + had sealed in 2019 a sub-licensing agreement with the Qatari channel to buy back its lot of two matches at cost price, or 332 million euros. ” Canal + announces its withdrawal. The question now is: what will beIN Sport’s strategy be towards the LFP?underlines Christophe Lepetit.The question is not simple because beIN Sports could be tempted to have the same arguments as Canal +, arguments on which the Paris Commercial Court and then the Competition Authority, today rejected Canal +, which considerably reduces its room for maneuver. One thing is certain, as long as beIN Sports does not seek to terminate its contract, the LFP does not lose money compared to the total amount of 663 million euros.»
Engaged in a legal standoff for several weeks with the LFP to contest the terms of reallocation of Mediapro lots, the Vivendi group subsidiary indeed wanted a global overhaul while the League favored a partial reallocation. The Paris Commercial Court ruled in favor of the LFP in March, but Canal + immediately announced that it was appealing. In a procedure launched in parallel, the Competition Authority for its part rejected Friday morning an appeal from Canal +, which accused the LFP of “abuse of dominant position“. The battle between the two actors is therefore far from over. Friday evening the League published a press release to welcome the arrival of Amazon and reaffirm that the lot held by the encrypted channel “remains operated by the Canal + Group”.
For its part, Amazon not only achieves a very good deal but also made a remarkable entry into the hexagonal round ball by becoming the main broadcaster of French football. The American giant is therefore driving the point home after having invited itself in recent years to the sports rights market via its Prime Video platform, for example acquiring certain TV rights to the football championships in England, Germany and Italy, or even matches. tennis at Roland-Garros for the French market. The strategy of the online distribution giant is mainly aimed at promoting subscriptions to its Prime platform, a service that brings together music, films, series, documentaries and currently costs 49 euros per year or 5.99 euros per month.
His acquisition of the majority of L1 and L2 posters raises some questions. “How will the public react to this change? For the first time, it is no longer a traditional television actor who owns the majority of L1 and L2 matches,Christophe Lepetit analyzes.Today, many French people consume video content, subscribing to platforms (NetFlix, Disney + or Prime Video) has become common and technically easy. But among football fans, will the migration be natural from the Canal + offer today to Prime Video tomorrow? If the price remains at 5.99 euros per month, there is no doubt.»
