Director of beIN Sports channels, Florent Houzot expressed the Qatari channel’s interest in TV rights to Ligue 1.
The situation is starting to become very worrying. Less than two months before the resumption of the French championship, the Professional Football League has still not found a broadcaster for the 2024-2029 period. After announcing that he was aiming for a billion euros for Ligue 1 TV rights, Vincent Labrune, boss of the LFP, has revised his demands downwards and could be satisfied with 500 million euros.
Now the big favorite to recover the rights to the L1, beIN Sports has confirmed, through its broadcast director Florent Houzot, its interest in the French championship. But not at any price…
“Every morning while shaving, I think about Ligue 1”
“Every morning while shaving, I think about Ligue 1. Afterwards, our president (Yousef Al-Obaidly, editor’s note) says it every day: his strategy is to buy rights at the right price and the right price is set by beIN, we are not going to get into difficulty, (…) but obviously, that (Ligue 1) interests beIN”Florent Houzot said this Monday on France Info.
Problem, beIN Sports, which would like to create a 100% Ligue 1 channel distributed exclusively by Canal+, is currently encountering the intransigence of the encrypted channel, which refuses to renegotiate upwards its distribution contract which binds it to the group Qatar. This is why the League is considering a plan B, the creation of its own channel which would cost subscribers 25 euros per month.
