It is an unexpected twist that shakes the French worlds of football and television.
While for weeks everyone expected the Professional Football League (LFP) to award the rights to Ligue 1 and League 2 to the duo Canal + and BeIN Sports, Amazon came into play at the last minute to overturn the table.
Unhappy with the distribution, the encrypted channel immediately announced its withdrawal from the game, thus giving a little more confusion to a gruesome situation.
Why is Canal + withdrawing?
Canal + is the big loser of this new allocation. Historical broadcaster of Ligue 1, came to the aid of French football last winter after the Mediapro fiasco, the encrypted channel had clearly displayed its intentions: to obtain the two most beautiful posters of the day, in the boxes of Saturday 5 p.m. and from Sunday 9 pm, and "offer" the rest of the matches to its partner BeIN Sports. Except that it is finally Amazon which recovered the jackpot of Sunday evening with the bonus of the exclusivity of 80% of Ligue 1, and this for "only" 250 million euros.
While Canal +, trapped in the contract signed at the time of Mediapro, will pay 330 million for two posters, those of Saturday 9 pm and that of Sunday 5 pm.
An unacceptable result for Canal, which immediately announced to withdraw from Ligue 1. “After the failure of the choice of Mediapro in 2018, Canal + regrets the decision of the Professional Football League to retain Amazon's proposal today to the detriment of that of its historical partners ”, explains a press release.
[Press release]
CANAL + withdraws from Ligue 1
⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Cqeq3b3n0r
- CANAL + Group (@canalplusgroupe) June 11, 2021
“There was a serious proposal to 600 million euros in total (
Editor's note: from Canal + and BeIN Sports
), blows a Canal executive. But there, faced with this decision, nobody will pay. We held out our hands and they turned their backs on us… The chapter is closed. We don't expect much from these people. We are not going to pay these 332 million euros, we are not going to broadcast Ligue 1 and we are going to accelerate the substitution of the offer with the Top 14 in rugby, golf, Formula 1, motorcycles or even the Champions League. "
“They are furious, and this is not surprising, decrypts Pierre Maes, specialist in TV rights for sport.
Canal has always wanted the return of the Sunday evening box, which includes the top ten picks of the season, and therefore necessarily the ten most beautiful posters.
Close to 50 million, it is as if the LFP was making a real declaration of war.
When you have had a dominant actor for so long in your own country, and you slap him in the face, you shouldn't be surprised at his reaction… ”.
What can happen now?
Canal + pays a sub-license with BeIN Sports for this famous lot 3, ie an amount of 332 million euros per season until 2024. The Qatari channel then transfers the money to the LFP. If this contract was broken, BeIN Sports would then be called upon to contribute. For Pierre Maes, Canal + will try to "get rid of its lot" which has become cumbersome: "If its leaders succeed, so much the better. Otherwise, the LFP will have to find a new buyer, of course at a lower sum! The risk is that, without Canal or BeIN Sports, the matches will not be produced and therefore not broadcast, even though they remain of high quality. "
To simplify things, the withdrawal of Canal + puts an unnamed mess in French football, which would lose its main creditor.
But that would foreshadow a long legal battle.
This Friday afternoon, few club presidents responded to our calls to discuss this more than worrying situation.
"I prefer not to say anything, otherwise I will say bullshit," explains one of them.
"The withdrawal of Canal is a posture of communication", answers another.
What is Amazon's strategy?
This is a huge leap for the American distribution giant, which has been broadcasting Roland-Garros evenings on its channel since the start of the competition, after acquiring certain TV rights, such as the US Open in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, American football with NFL matches in the United States, football with the Premier League in the United Kingdom and the Champions League in Germany and Italy.
His arrival in Ligue 1 certainly marks a real desire to appropriate a new audience.
Read also Roland-Garros, Champions League and NFL ... Amazon is also betting on sport
"They are not hiding it: their goal is to attract new subscribers to their loyalty program (Prime), and that they stay there," says Pierre Maes. Amazon is the big winner in this story. His strategy was, like the others, to have the best deal at the lowest price. With 250 million (
Editor's note: its biggest investment in sport in Europe
) and as a bonus the Sunday night game, Amazon is the big winner in this story. We will remember that the richest in the world… is the one who pays the least! "
According to our information, after a first attempt at the beginning of the year during the last call for tenders, Amazon came back recently, feeling that the negotiations between the League and Canal + were not moving forward.
But without increasing its initial offer.
“The contact had not been broken since the last call for tenders.
The idea was rather to attract them for the next one in 2023, but it was done faster than expected, ”explains an executive from the LFP.
On the Canal + side, however, we had felt the danger coming.
"We have always considered that it was never won, that the Amazon threat was real", we assure Canal.
What will be the consequences for subscribers?
This is the question they must be asking themselves right now, especially if they like football.
Will they have to pay extra or will the amount (49 euros per year or 5.99 euros per month) remain the same?
It is still too much to say, while the withdrawal of Canal + has had the effect of a bomb and still leaves, technically, two posters per day without broadcasters.
“Today, there is less competition and Amazon, as a good opportunist, has taken advantage of the climate of war between the LFP and Canal +, underlines Pierre Maes.
It's hard to know what the Americans are going to decide.
They could very well do as for Roland-Garros, by including it in their price.
I don't think they're going to make a specialty channel with an extra charge.
"
PODCAST.
TV rights of French football: the story of the Mediapro fiasco
On the Canal + side, we wonder about the repercussions. "There had already been an exposure error with Mediapro, which had favored piracy," said an executive of the encrypted channel. But here, among French households, most cannot have access to Amazon because they receive television by TNT or satellite or when their box is too old. "
