On which channel will French viewers be able to watch the first day of Ligue 1?
According to information from
Figaro
, confirming those of RMC, beIN Sports could be forced to broadcast the two football matches on August 7 and 8 (Troyes-PSG on Saturday at 9 p.m. and Metz-Lille on Sunday at 5 p.m.), if Canal + does not.
Read also: Football TV rights: war is declared between beIN Sports and the LFP
This Tuesday, July 27, the Qatari-born broadcaster and the Professional Football League (LFP) have assigned each other in summary proceedings, as
Le Figaro
announced on
Monday.
This morning, the channel of Qatari origin received the assignment of the League, which recalls the obligations and the terms of their contract signed in 2018. “
In this contract, it is written that if Canal + does not broadcast, for X or Y reason, one or more matches, beIN Sports will have to automatically broadcast them
”, summarizes a close relative of the file.
According to our information, beIN would thus be ready to schedule the first day of the Championship, before Canal + takes over for the rest of the season.
A race against time
But in the end, it could all only be a question of timing. Because beIN Sports, for its part, also initiated proceedings on Tuesday against the LFP, with the Civil Court under article 11.95. The objective is to question the prices charged by the League for the famous lot 3 of the call for tenders. In mid-June, the League attributed the broadcasting of 80% of L1 matches to Amazon for 250 million euros, from the 2021-2022 season. A broken price even though Canal +, via beIN, must pay 332 million euros for only 20% of the matches (referred to as lot 3).
This summary summons was suggested by the Nanterre commercial court last Friday in its decision.
Indeed, the court explained that if beIN decided to attack the LFP, Canal + would then find itself in the obligation to pay and to diffuse the matches of Ligue 1. The various parts should thus be fixed in the coming days.
One question remains: what will Canal + decide to do?
In addition to turning to French justice, beIN will in the next few hours initiate an action with the French Competition Authority for "
distortion of competition
" and "
abuse of a dominant position by the League
", as well as 'to the European Commission.
