Ligue 2 will be broadcast by BeIN Sports for the next five seasons: the channel won the two lots auctioned for 40 million euros per season, an amount which corresponds to the sums hoped for by the League (26 million for the first lot , 13 for the second).
“The allocation of all prizes to beIN Sports is excellent news for all Ligue 2 BKT clubs as well as their supporters, who will continue to benefit from remarkable expertise and coverage with all matches and magazines” declared Vincent Labrune, president of the LFP, in a joint press release. “I would like to warmly thank beIN Sports, which once again shows its attachment to French football,” Labrune also said.
Ligue 1 rights still unsold
The League, however, remains entangled in the burning issue of negotiations for TV rights for Ligue 1 over the same period, which are unsuccessful while the championship resumes on August 16 and for which beIN is the LFP’s preferred interlocutor.
“Since 2012, beIN Sports has proudly established itself as a leading sports broadcaster in France, offering a rich and varied catalog of rights, based on reasoned and measured investments, reflecting our thoughtful and long-term strategy,” said indicated for his part Yousef Al-Obaidly, the president of beIN.
The acquisition of the rights to Ligue 2 was an important element in the distribution contract which links beIN to Canal+, the historic broadcaster of French football, but which refuses to participate in any negotiations on the rights to Ligue 1.
This refusal prevents the League from setting up a plan A for the rights to the first division, a 100% Ligue 1 channel supported by beIN and distributed exclusively by Canal+ for nearly 700 million euros annually. But the encrypted channel assures that such a project was never presented to it, neither by the League nor by beIN.
Labrune heard by the Senate
The LFP is therefore considering a plan B, a 100% Ligue 1 channel, which it would create itself, with or without the support of BeIN, but which it would distribute non-exclusively to Internet service providers (ISPs). ) to broadcasters, Amazon, DAZN or even Canal+, to Internet channel distributors.
On Wednesday, Vincent Labrune must be heard by the Senate commission of inquiry into the financialization of French football and in particular on the agreement linking the LFP to CVC, a Luxembourg investment fund which brought 1.5 billion to professional football French against approximately 13% of its commercial revenues.
