The news delighted football fans, and in particular fans of Italian football. On October 29, the L'Équipe channel announced that it had acquired part of the television rights to the Italian Serie A, the last of the major football championships not to be broadcast in France. “The L’Équipe group has acquired the rights for two seasons until 2026” of the Italian championship, indicated the press release published on the group's website. The latter will also have summaries of all matches.
1 match unencrypted on television and 1 match on the paid digital platform
In detail, the agreement provided for the sports media channels to broadcast two matches per day, starting on October 29 with the AC Milan/Naples clash, offered live and unencrypted on the L'Équipe channel from 8:45 p.m. From the following week, one match was to be broadcast unencrypted on TNT channel 21 and the other on the digital platform reserved for subscribers. But the experience was cut short since the last meeting broadcast for free (on L'Équipe Live) dates from November 2 (Monza-AC Milan), a match which was originally to be broadcast on L'Équipe Live Foot (accessible only on subscription).
On television, the last unencrypted match was broadcast on October 31 (AS Roma-Torino). The group indicated on its website on November 8 that “due to a technical problem beyond (its) control, the next two posters“, namely Juventus-Torino on Saturday November 9 and Inter Milan-Naples on Sunday November 10, “would be offered on L’Équipe Live Foot“, and not in the clear on television as planned.
Ce “technical problem” is in fact a dispute with the DAZN platform, which holds the rights to Serie A in Switzerland, a country where the L'Équipe channel is also accessible. “What is blocking is simple: the problem comes from Switzerland and the Italian border areas, which have access to the channel. DAZN (rights holder) is very attentive to the matter and does not rule out possible legal action, hence the caution and desire to resolve this conflict of rights“, detailed on X the journalist specializing in Serie A Guillaume Maillard-Pacini, confirming the elements collected in recent days by Puremédias.
Broken promise
Contacted by Puremédias, the L’Équipe channel confirms “a broadcast territory problem“but asserts that the dispute”is being resolved“. “Moreover”the channel defends itself, “there is no interruption in the broadcast of Serie A on L'Équipe since the championship is available on L'Équipe Live Foot“. If in fact, the matches are available on the digital platform, it is not free. It is accessible via a subscription, the cheapest being 6.99 euros per month conditional on one year of commitment. far from the initial offer therefore, which promised one match per day visible for free on channel 21 of TNT.
