The initial “dear Vincent” does not create an illusion for long. The letter sent this Monday by Maxime Saada to Vincent Labrune looks like an indictment. Disclosed by The Team, the president of Canal+ details his grievances against the Professional Football League (LFP) and his boss, to justify his choice not to participate in the call for tenders for TV rights to Ligue 1 , on October 17, which concerns the period 2024-2029. A great first in the history of the encrypted channel, inseparable since its creation in 1984 from the French first division championship. However, this announcement will surprise no one, as the gap has widened between the two parties since the Mediapro fiasco.
Saada judges that the LFP has “continuously penalized Canal+ in the exploitation of its rights, in particular in terms of programming, to the detriment of our subscribers and by giving the feeling to all our teams that Amazon was systematically privileged . » “Remember that Amazon has benefited for three years from 80% of Ligue 1 matches for 250 million euros per year when Canal+ pays 332 million euros for 20% of matches,” continues Saada, who dwells on the support of his company when the Mediapro mirage dissipated in 2020.
A sum to which must be added the 42 million Free for near-live broadcasts, and the 80 million for TV rights abroad, for a total of around 700 million euros per season. Still according to Saada, the current call for tenders is designed to benefit Amazon.
“Since the LFP has set such a high minimum price, it is not surprising that Canal+ does not participate,” judges Pierre Maes, international consultant in television sports rights. Small review of details: the call for tenders for 2024-2029, which therefore runs over five years, and no longer four, has been simplified compared to its predecessor in 2018 (from which the paper giant Mediapro emerged as the big winner ), going from seven to two lots.
Lot number 1, described as “premium” by the specialist, includes the two best posters from each day of Ligue 1, live and exclusively, and a co-broadcast of the fourth choice. It is priced at 520 million euros. The second lot – “volume lot”, according to the author of “The Ruin of French Football” and “The Business of Football TV Rights” – includes the co-broadcast of match 4 and five other matches, for 270 million. The total is therefore 800 million euros, but this is only a starting point. The LFP and Vincent Labrune, who will market the rights to the L1 abroad once the domestic question has been resolved, have not hidden that they are targeting the billion.
“It would be a magnificent performance for the LFP and the clubs to achieve this,” observes, doubtfully, Pierre Maes, before listing the actors likely to play a role in these major negotiations.
Those already in place: Amazon, Canal+ and beIN Sports (with Ligue 2)
The American giant has made itself essential in the French football landscape, even if its number 1 consultant, Thierry Henry, flew away this summer to sit on the French Espoirs bench. “Amazon used L1 to test the attractiveness of pay TV,” says Pierre Maes. Which reminds us that France is “the only country” where, to have access to first division matches, you have to pay for a subscription other than the initial one: the Ligue 1 pass now costs €14.99 per month (instead of €12 €.99 until last season), in addition to the monthly €6.99 paid for access to Amazon Prime Video.
“Big Tech loved testing new products. Now, above all, they want to make a profit,” continues the Belgian consultant, according to whom, despite the termination letter sent by Maxime Saada, Canal+ is not yet out of the game.
“I think that Canal+ and beIN Sports are still interested, respectively for the “premium” lot and the “volume” lot. For a pay channel that relies on premium sports programs, such as Canal+, Ligue 1 and the Champions League [que Canal+ co-diffuse actuellement avec RMC Sport] are the most premium programs in France. But the group continues to follow Bolloré’s strategy to acquire these rights at the best price. »
The one that’s not here yet: DAZN
He’s the new kid that everyone in French football is talking about. Presented conveniently as the “Netflix of sport”, the British platform born in 2016, initially only available on the Internet, was invited to the MyCanal portal, offering two Ligue 1 matches and the women’s D1 as a trial balloon. also broadcast by Canal.
“DAZN has made significant investments in Italy and Spain where they bought the TV rights, and their subscription which was 15 euros per month is more like 40 euros now,” explains Pierre Maes. “DAZN still shows 6 billion euros in cumulative losses [depuis la création de l’entreprise] and I can’t see them carrying out an operation that could harm their partner Canal+. »
The one we didn’t maybe didn’t see coming
Will there be a new Mediapro (but with strong backs), who would create a huge surprise on the line, like Eddy Seigneur on the Champs-Elysées during the 1994 Tour de France? “It’s still possible, but less than in 2018,” judges the consultant. Because there are fewer and fewer aggressive players on these programs in Europe and around the world. » “We are talking about Apple but that seems unlikely to me,” he adds. As for RMC Sport, which will lose the rights to the three European Cups at the end of the season to the sole benefit of Canal+, its owner Altice is turning it towards combat sports.
In fact, this call for tenders officially launched on September 12, which left potential interested parties with barely more than a month to respond, could very well prove unsuccessful on October 17. We would therefore move on to over-the-counter discussions, which still promises some nice show-offs on the part of the LFP and future broadcasters. With the famous billion euros at the end of the day?