Ligue 1
Broadcasting dispute puts French top flight in financial jeopardy
In May 2018, it was announced that Mediapro, the Spanish broadcaster, had acquired rights to cover the majority of Ligue 1 games between 2020 and 2024 for €1.15 billion a year. A new company entering the fray with such financial muscle came as a shock for French football: Ligue 1 had never been broadcast by an entirely foreign company since it first appeared on TV in 1984.
Ahead of the 2020-21 campaign, Mediapro launched the subscription channel Telefoot to show games for €25.90 a month. Many French fans, who’d been used to watching domestic football as part of a wider European package, thought the price was very hefty to access French football alone.
The first game broadcast was a drab 0-0 draw between Bordeaux and Nantes, but viewers nonetheless applauded the quality of Telefoot’s coverage. It didn’t help. By the end of November, Telefoot had signed up just 480,000 subscribers - to break even they needed 3.5 million.
In November, Mediapro failed to pay Ligue 1’s governing body, the Ligue de Football Professional (LFP), a €178 million tranche that was due, and the ensuing dispute quickly went to court.
Mediapro argued that the impact of COVID-19 on professional football, including the lack of fans in grounds affecting the TV spectacle, made a reduction in the price of the deal justifiable. But the LFP refused to discount their product and on December 11, the court announced an
By the end of November, Telefoot had signed up just 480,000 subscribers - to break even they needed 3.5 million
end to the partnership between the LFP and Mediapro.
Free to make another deal, the LFP immediately opened discussions with Canal+, France’s major satellite channel. LFP president Vincent Labrune declared that he wouldn’t agree to anything less than €800m, arguing that this would ensure the league’s inherent value wouldn’t be irreparably damaged. Canal+ balked at the idea and threatened to let go of the rights package they already had - worth €330m - claiming that under the circumstances there should be a new tendering process for all the packages the LFP had made available. The channel’s head Maxime Saada claimed Canal+ had been mistreated by the LFP for years, and that the league would be breaking the law if they didn’t put the rights up for tender.
Canal+ suggested showing the rest of the season’s games via pay-perview, similar to the Premier League at the end of last year. This idea was somewhat undermined by the fact that English fans had hated the concept, and the idea had been quickly scrapped. The LFP did not pursue it.
Instead, the remaining packages were put up for bidding, yet this didn’t provide a solution either. Offers from Amazon, Eurosport and DAZN were all rejected by the LFP, while Canal+ did not even bid - in spite of insisting that the games be made available.
Once again, the LFP and Canal+ resumed negotiations and, eventually, a deal was reached. Their original agreement was reinstated, with the remaining Ligue 1 fixtures purchased for a reported fee of €35m. If true, that means the LFP will receive a total fee of around €670m for the season - less than half of the expected €1.15b.
For now, it is a stop-gap, affording the LFP time to arrange a new deal for next season, while the dream they were sold by Mediapro lies in tatters.