Who is the best promoter of piracy in the French sports world? The media, as the general director of DAZN in France, Brice Daumin, suggested on France Info? Or those who sow obstacles in the way of access to football on television for the greatest number? “The increase in illegal online streaming is not our responsibility,” Daumin wants to believe. “Price and piracy have nothing to do with each other. Piracy is not an alternative to DAZN.”
It can, however, be an alternative to nothingness. Serie A followers in France are witnesses to this: their favourite championship has still not been broadcasted a single second here, due to a lack of agreement with a broadcaster. After 12 years of Calcio on its channels, beIN Sports is hesitant to extend the adventure but has not yet left the ship. “Florent Houzot, the director of BeIN’s channels and programmes, indicated two weeks ago during the channel’s back-to-school conference that he was in discussions with Lega Serie A to possibly renew its rights,” recalls François Lefèvre, a specialist in TV rights issues at News Tank Sport.
The negotiations are dragging on and, in the absence of an agreement, the 5th day of Serie A will not escape the black screen in France either. The most stubborn have no choice but to transgress to watch the Madonnnina derby or Juve-Naples this weekend. From beIN to IPTV, the movement is underway. “I receive a lot of messages from people who express their fed-upness and say they have unsubscribed from beIN because of the situation,” says Guillaume Maillard-Pacini, Eurosport’s Italian guarantor, on the front line on the case.
“You can watch the Saudi, Belgian, Portuguese, etc. championships, but not Serie A, which is among the top 5 championships in the world,” complains another follower of Italian football, well-known on X (Twitter). It’s a shame. For the Inter-Milan AC derby, it will either be on IPTV or via VPN to watch it on a free foreign channel.”
35 French players in Serie A, the unstoppable selling point
Although it hardly stirs up controversy in Italian homes – not a single line in the press, even in the sports press – the subject nevertheless upsets the players in transalpine football: France is one of the major markets in the quest for 250 million euros in international TV rights, if only because it is over-represented in Serie A. The 35 players who make it up make it the largest diaspora in the championship.
A sales argument but also a requirement in the negotiations, specifies Guillaume Maillard-Pacini: “as much as there is not the same madness as in France on the question of rights, in the sense that the leaders are quite aware of the value of their product, on the fact that there are fewer stars, as much they have difficulty in making a gesture for France which has the largest colony of players in Italy. The French, themselves, refuse to participate in the auctions. Each party has prices far from each other.”
Three potential broadcasters are currently in dialogue with Lega Serie A:
A mystery candidate: A well-known player in the market who refuses to come out of the woodwork and remains on the lookout in case the other two abandon the bet.
DAZN: 100% broadcaster of Calcio in Italy, the streaming platform is also on the case. “It would be a good way for them to complete their basket and strengthen their offer alongside Ligue 1,” believes Luc Arrondel, research director at the CNRS and specialist in football economics.
BeIN Sports: The historic partner of the previous decade no longer seems willing to throw tickets out the window to grab everything. “Florent Houzot suggested a takeover of the Serie A rights if it was in line with the group’s strategy and if it would not endanger beIN Sports’ investments,” confides François Lefèvre.
The football market has changed
So what is this new strategy? Between the saga of French football TV rights, recently marked by a delay in the payment of the first installment owed by the Qatari group to Ligue 1 clubs and the Serie A case, beIN is also taking its foot off the NBA, for the moment without a broadcaster in France for the coming season. “Each acquisition must be reasoned to perpetuate the economic model of beIN Sports which, for three years, has been making money, Florent Houzot congratulated himself in The Team. Our goal is to continue in this dynamic. We must agree on the right price.”
“Before, channels put money into football because it could be a loss leader, as Canal did for a long time for example, explains Luc Arrondel. The logic was to say, we are in deficit on this product but we will make up for it on the rest of the catalogue.” Is Serie A still a loss leader? Of course, it is still sold abroad and France is the only major football country to do without it, but its popularity is incomparable to what it was in the 90s-2000s. This is evidenced by the failure of the Italian football players to revalue their championship during the last call for tenders for domestic TV rights (900 million euros per season compared to 927 million during the previous agreement).

In France, Calcio is losing value as the black screen spreads and the disgruntled give in to the temptation of IPTV, from which one rarely returns. Marco, a French supporter of Italian origin, testifies:
” My friends and I have turned to an illegal fallback, and I can assure you that if a broadcaster finally gets the rights back, they won’t go back there. Because everyone is happy.” »
The Eurosport journalist fears that the 5th day and its big games that have been scrapped will mark a definitive blow to the act of devaluation. “The League was convinced that it would find an agreement during the international break, the period was ripe for it. Everyone thought that the situation would be resolved before the big games this weekend. It is clear that this has not been the case. We must ask ourselves the question of the offer now that five days and many big games will have passed. We are in a situation that I have personally never experienced in France.”
Until when? In Italy, the actors still believe in a favorable outcome, but fewer and fewer people would bet their life that there will not be a blackout for the entire season.