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TV rights: the Mediapro scandal, the Canal + strategy ... Didier Quillot's hearing at the National Assembly

2021-07-22T14:45:18.796Z


This Thursday, the former director general of the Professional Football League, Didier Quillot, had to explain himself to the parliamentary mission


An expected explanation.

Didier Quillot, former executive director general of the Professional Football League (LFP), was to explain himself on Thursday about the allocation of Ligue 1 TV rights to Mediapro in May 2018 before the parliamentary mission of the Assembly National.

A call for tenders which had resulted in a valuation of Ligue 1 at more than one billion euros (780 million for Mediapro), and in the default of the Sino-Spanish group in December 2020, leading French football in crisis.

We summarize the main statements of Didier Quillot.

🏛️📺⚽️The parliamentary mission on #droitsTV and the sports economic model will hear this Thursday @DidierQuillot, former director general of the #LFP.



To be continued from 10:30 am on https://t.co/oMqesha0Kl ⤵️⤵️ pic.twitter.com/EvaHGqqJL7

- CĂ©dric ROUSSEL (@ CedricRoussel06) July 20, 2021

"We weren't in a billion dollar frenzy"

The former general manager had to account for the valuation of Ligue 1. The LFP has often been criticized for having greatly overestimated the amount of TV rights for French football.

“You have to remember the context.

Neymar arrives in the summer of 2018. All the other championships see their rights increased.

There is pressure from French clubs to reach the billion euros, ”explained the main concerned to the National Assembly.

This pressure has not, according to Didier Quillot, led to an overvaluation of Ligue 1: “We had estimated the championship from a very complex study, between 747 million and 1.2 billion euros.

The average set by the steering committee reached 965 million euros.

We weren't going into a billion dollar frenzy, we wanted to hit that reserve price.

We had never set $ 1.2 billion as a priority objective.

"

Didier Quillot, former CEO of the #LFP: "I haven't commented on the MĂ©diapro affair for almost a year. I will do it in front of you, and be as precise and rigorous as possible" https://t.co / pqBq4QyLwg

- Pierre Rondeau (@ PierreR0ndeau) July 22, 2021

"Maxime Saada wanted to fail the call for tenders"

Second important point of the hearing: the strategy of Canal + at the time of the allocation of TV rights. On this point, Quillot was rather clear. The encrypted channel clearly would not have played the game after losing lot 1 (the Sunday night game and the Canal Football Club). “On lot 1, Canal + is offering 262 million euros and Mediapro 330 million euros. We propose to Canal to outbid and they refuse, continues the businessman. On lot 2, Mediapro is offering 250 million euros and Canal + 10 million euros. On lot 3, BeIN 332 million euros, Canal, 10 million euros. Canal does not wish to outbid. "

“Maxime Saada wanted to fail the call for tenders as soon as they did not obtain lot 1. Even for digital rights, Canal positioned itself, at 41 million euros, and left Free win, ”quipped the former director general of the LFP.

The League then had no other choice than to award the two prizes won by Mediapro since "we must respect the rules".

"A deposit should have been imposed" for Mediapro

Last key element of his statements to the National Assembly: Mediapro's business plan to sell these TV rights.

On this point, Didier Quillot admitted, “obviously” an error on the part of the League: “Mediapro's business plan was particularly complicated, at 25 euros per month.

But we thought that after 2 or 3 years, the balance could have been reached.

We thought that Mediapro, with its Chinese shareholder, would position itself for the long term.

"

The fault of the LFP consists in not having requested a bank guarantee from the Sino-Spanish group.

An unjustified criticism for Didier Quillot: “The LFP has never requested a guarantee for 25 years.

We had confidence in Mediapro, with stable and solid shareholders, and a business plan that could have worked without cyclical effects.

"

The former director general of the LFP ended up acknowledging that "it would have been necessary to impose, in the regulations, a deposit of 10 or 20% of the total of the contract over 1 year from the application". Regrets that will not make the attribution of TV rights back. , Moreover, the LFP has still not been released despite the arrival of Amazon for the next three seasons and a much smaller sum (250 million per season).

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-07-22

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