A crazy week awaits French football.
Canal + and beIN Sports clash again this Monday, August 2 at the Nanterre Commercial Court in the dispute over the rights of Ligue 1 football. The President of the Court must determine whether Canal + can terminate its 332 sub-license contract million euros annually with the channel of Qatari origin for the broadcasting of the two matches of L1, from the famous lot 3.
Read also: Ligue 1 TV rights: a conciliator appointed in the dispute between the LFP, beIN sports and Canal +
During the hearing this afternoon, the Professional Football League (LFP) will ask to join the procedure between beIN and Canal +, according to information from
Figaro
.
The League warned the two channels on Sunday.
"
The goal for the League is to ensure that Canal + respects its sub-license agreement with beIN, namely the payment, production and broadcasting of the two matches of lot 3
", explains a source familiar with the matter.
Because five days before the resumption of the Championship, the outcome remains uncertain for 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.).
In the event that Canal + would lose to beIN, - and would therefore be forced to honor its sublicense contract - the LFP would like to impose penalties on the encrypted channel if the latter refuses to broadcast the matches or to settle the bill. at beIN.
"We are talking about an amount around 1.5 million euros per day,"
said a source.
Several scenarios on the table
At the end of the day Thursday, the president of the commercial court of Nanterre had decided to freeze until the hearing of Monday, August 2, the request of Canal + to temporarily terminate its sublicence contract with beIN. The latter had seized the court for "
unlawful termination
". A few days earlier, the encrypted channel of the Vivendi group had sent a letter to Youssef Al-Obaidly, the CEO of beIN Media Group, to terminate their contract signed at the end of 2019, based on the “
3G clause
”. The latter specifies that if "
Canal + buys the rights to football from beIN, beIN must for its part do everything possible so that Canal + can dispose of it in the best possible way
", summarizes a person close to the file.
However, since mid-June, and the allocation by the LFP of the broadcasting of 80% of L1 matches to Amazon for 250 million euros from the 2021-2022 season, Canal + had not stopped asking beIN to sue the League for “
distortion of competition
” and “
abuse of a dominant position
. What beIN had refused, until the commercial court of Nanterre suggested to it to do it Friday, July 23, in its decision on the dispute between the two chains. Indeed, beIN Sports had finally initiated proceedings on Tuesday against the LFP, with the Civil Court under article 11.95. "
The president of the commercial court of Nanterre should thus render a firm decision today.
In the meantime, he had decided to freeze the request for Canal + since beIN had ended up filing a complaint against the League
”, specifies a person close to the file.
Several scenarios are still on the table.
A bill of 56 million to settle
Another legal battle also took place last Friday. The LFP and beIN sports clashed in a hearing at the Paris civil court. The hearing concerned the case brought by the League against its contractual partner beIN, which recalls the obligations and terms of their contract signed in 2018. “
In this contract, it is written that if Canal + does not broadcast the matches, beIN Sports should automatically broadcast them. It is also for the LFP to ensure that beIN will respect its payment schedule even if Canal + does not,
”summarizes a person close to the file.
On August 5, beIN is supposed to pay the LFP a first amount of 56 million euros. To avoid having to pay the bill alone, the chain has placed itself under the protection of the Nanterre commercial court as part of a conciliation procedure. Judicial administrator Hélène Bourbouloux, well known in the French restructuring community, was appointed as conciliator. She will be responsible for setting the LFP, beIN and Canal + around the table in the coming days to find a solution. According to our information, the LFP has already met for the first time with Hélène Bourbouloux.
