Something, in French football, is frankly wrong.
Mediapro, the main broadcaster in league 1, which is yet on the verge of deserting the French market, could finally play extra time.
The Sino-Spanish group sent a letter this weekend to the Professional Football League (LFP) to officially propose to continue broadcasting matches of the French championship "
at least until the end of the season
".
It would be about "
giving the League time to find an agreement with another broadcaster
".
Read also: Football: Téléfoot could broadcast Ligue 1 beyond January 31
A shame?
Certainly.
After having promised a record amount of 830 million euros per year for 80% of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, Mediapro did not pay for French football this fall.
For the moment, its Téléfoot channel still broadcasts its eight Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches per day, under a transitional arrangement, signed in December between the LFP and Mediapro.
But it expires on January 31.
After?
It's one of the many puzzles the League faces.
While waiting for a reallocation of TV rights, the authority must at all costs avoid the "black screen".
This hypothesis would be potentially catastrophic for the clubs, already deprived of ticketing revenues by the health camera and very dependent on sponsorship revenues ... linked to the visibility of matches on television.
500,000 Téléfoot subscribers
Despite his fiasco, Mediapro considers that he is best placed to take over the interim.
According to a source familiar with the matter, his Téléfoot channel still has some 500,000 subscribers.
According to other sources, between them, Bouygues Telecom, Orange and Free total between 120,000 and 150,000. For its part, SFR would have around 250,000. The remaining subscriptions being made directly from the platform Telefoot.
According to a telecoms operator, subscriptions to Téléfoot would be "s
tables, down slightly
", despite all the controversy around the TV rights of French football.
4 to 6 million euros per month
Mediapro offers the League to pay it back all the income it receives, less the production and operating costs of Téléfoot.
Now that the channel is no longer paying for the TV rights to its matches, it is collecting money.
Logic.
In the broad masses, the operational cost of Téléfoot amounts to a little less than 5 million euros per month.
Taking as a calculation hypothesis an average monthly subscription of 20 euros (excluding VAT) and once the share that goes to telecom operators has been withdrawn, the main broadcaster of Ligue 1 would earn around 4 to 6 million euros each month which could land in the coffers of the League.
A handout, far, very far from the billion that the League had theoretically won ... This proposal could nevertheless guarantee continuity in the broadcasting of matches, while waiting for a new broadcaster to be found.
“
The league can be tempted to keep it simple by continuing with Mediapro.
Especially since for the moment, the contracts with the operators have not yet been terminated
”, estimates a good expert of the file.
Unless ... it accepts proposals from other channels, which have expressed their interest: Canal +, via a “pay per view” process, but also M6, TF1 as well as France Télévisions.
For Mediapro, continuing to broadcast the championship can help to ensure the sustainability of Téléfoot in the short term.
Otherwise, the hypothesis of an employment safeguard plan (PSE) was studied.
For the League, the Mediapro solution would be akin to pragmatism.
The subscriber base is there and the production tool too.
But this solution would have a bitter taste.
It is like saying that the tricolor ball agrees to shake the hand of the guy who stabbed her.
“
It would be a terrible mark of weakness on the part of the League,
considers a media player.
Four or six million to share with 20 clubs?
With that, you pay an attacker's salary, at most.
Validating this option is showing how desperate the situation of French football is
”.
The LFP has not yet determined on the subject.
A certitude.
For the clubs, already in the red, only the success of the future call for tenders will clear up the horizon.