The season started almost three months ago and BeInSports has already broadcast seven matches… without paying a cent to Ligue 1 clubs. A difficult to tolerate situation that goes down badly with the presidents.
The situation is tense between BeInSports and Ligue 1. Broadcasting one match per day of the championship, the Qatari channel has still not paid its first payment, of around 20 million euros. The amounts which were paid to Ligue 1 clubs as of August 30 were therefore reduced by 24% compared to the planned sum since, despite the criticism against it, DAZN perfectly honored its part of the deal. On the contrary, BeInSports is dragging its feet and being desired, which is causing the annoyance of the presidents of Ligue 1. This is good news, they are meeting this Thursday at a college.
The opportunity for the bosses of French clubs to discuss the BeInSports case according to L’Equipe. A counter-attack could be organized by the presidents in order to put pressure on the Qatari channel which has been broadcasting the French championship free of charge for three months. In today’s edition, the national daily reveals that to justify this lack of payment, BeIn explains that no contract has been signed and that it is therefore not in an illegal situation. Several points are still to be resolved before signing the contract, in particular on the channel’s desire to be able to sublicense its Saturday match at 5 p.m. to another broadcaster if it wishes. Except that to date, the LFP is intransigent on its point.
The presidents of Ligue 1 meeting this Thursday
For the sake of clarity among consumers, the League does not want a third broadcaster in addition to DAZN and BeInSports. An incomprehensible position for the Qatari channel, which for its part argues that a third broadcaster could only be beneficial to Ligue 1 for its exposure. Negotiations will therefore continue with the hope of quickly finding an agreement, because the French clubs need this money. Especially since the overall amount of TV rights, almost 500 million euros, is already well below expectations.
