The major broadcaster of French football, Mediapro, did not honor on Saturday the payment of the due date of the television rights of the Championship due to the Professional Football League (LFP) on December 5, we learned from sources close to the folder.
Read also: Football - TV rights: still no agreement between the League and Mediapro
Unsurprisingly, the League did not receive this third installment of the season expected before December 5 from the Chinese-owned Catalan group, currently in negotiations to reduce the amount of its contract this season, according to a source. close to football authorities interviewed by AFP.
According to this same source, the other broadcasters (Canal +, Free) of Ligue 1 have met their deadlines well.
Conciliation
In October, Mediapro had already failed to honor the second deadline of its contract, amounting to 172.3 million euros.
The December deadline was approaching, according to several media.
According to two other sources having knowledge of the file and requested anonymity, Mediapro considers itself not liable for this deadline of December 5 as long as the conciliation process with the League, opened since October 19 with the commercial court of Nanterre, is In progress.
From the end of October, Mediapro had warned at a press conference through the voice of his lawyer that the question of the deadline did
not
"
make much sense
" in the context of this procedure which can last. up to four months.
Read also: TV rights in Ligue 1: Mediapro takes Canal + to court
The League, which has refused for several weeks to respond to any solicitation on the subject, therefore finds itself with nearly 350 million euros of unpaid bills in two months from its main broadcaster, out of an initial total amount of 1.153 billion euros annually for Ligue 1, including 780 million euros supposed to come from Mediapro.
