The Professional Football League (LFP) has launched a
"market consultation"
for the vacant TV rights of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, with a submission of offers from interested broadcasters expected on February 1, a- she announced this Tuesday.
Read also: Canal + and French football: from humiliation to revenge by Vincent Bolloré
This consultation, separated into two procedures, one for L1 (four sets of matches or magazines), the other for L2 (two sets), concerns matches abandoned in December by the defective broadcaster Mediapro, and does not include not those broadcast by Canal +, contrary to what the encrypted channel hoped.
These lots, which therefore represent 80% of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, will be on sale for the entire duration of the current TV rights cycle, i.e. until the end of the 2023-2024 season.
The procedure, which the League refuses to call a “call for tenders” in its press release published in the evening, has been set up in an accelerated manner, to face the growing financial emergency for the clubs.
These are deprived of ticket revenues by the health crisis, and deprived of most of their television revenues by the withdrawal of the Mediapro group, which had initially promised a record amount of more than 800 million euros per year for 80 % of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Thus, operators interested in broadcasting French football will only have ten days to put together offers, Canal + in the lead.
Avoid "black screen"
For the LFP, this shortened period can hope to avoid the
"black screen"
, namely the hypothesis of non-broadcast matches which would immediately affect the visibility of clubs and their advertising revenues.
For the time being, Téléfoot, the Mediapro channel, should only continue broadcasting the meetings until January 31, even if it has said it is ready to go further, like other channels that have offered their services in such a way. transient.
However, from February 7, an essential match is on the program, the "Classic" between Marseille and Paris SG.
All eyes will now turn to Canal +: the Vivendi group channel, led by Vincent Bolloré, said last week that it wanted to return the matches it broadcasts, i.e. 20% of Ligue 1 for 330 million euros per year, considering that a global call for tenders should be launched.
But the League has a different analysis and does not intend to put these matches in competition, which leaves fear a challenge to Canal + in court and new legal battles in the coming weeks.
To date, only the encrypted channel has publicly expressed its interest in buying the TV rights to French football.
