"For Ligue 1, the post-Canal+ era must finally begin"

Maxime Saada, president of Canal+, abruptly closed the door he had reopened by giving French football hope that its "historic broadcaster" would be its savior by distributing the imminent channel of the Professional Football League (LFP) responsible for broadcasting Ligue 1 matches. But the leader instead played with him like a cat and a mouse. The balance of power was too unbalanced in this semblance of negotiation.

This renunciation even smacks of harassment, as the pay-TV channel has barely hidden its resentment since being sidelined by the LFP. In any case, Ligue 1 has become optional for a media outlet that has invested in other content.

Because the non-return of Canal+ shows the situation in which the League entered the audiovisual rights market by choosing Mediapro rather than Canal+ for the 2020-2024 cycle, then by preferring Amazon Prime Video when Mediapro threw in the towel in 2020.

The LFP had every right to end this long partnership, even though, between 1998 and 2020, Canal+ paid nearly €9 billion to French football, representing three-quarters of the latter's television revenue over this period. But this proved to be a strategic error.

Since the beginning of the century, miraculously enough, the LFP had always seen an operator emerge to maintain competition with Canal+ and the growth of broadcasting rights: TPS in the early 2000s, Orange at the end of the 2000s, BeIN Sports in 2012. Between 2000 and 2020, the total annual amount increased from 122 to 720 million euros. However, since 2020 and the exclusive distribution agreement of BeIN by Canal+, thus becoming partners, hopes of a successor have been dashed. One might have thought that the arrival of Amazon confirmed the interest of the digital giants, but the American giant withdrew after three seasons.

DAZN, designated by default last summer, has just bowed out , having recruited just over 500,000 subscribers compared to the 1.5 million initially envisaged. For Ligue 1, the post-Canal+ era must finally begin. It's in difficulty: after successive cuts in television rights in recent seasons, a collapse is now to be feared.

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