Is French basketball preparing to experience its “Mediapro affair”?
The “Mediapro fiasco” named after this Sino-Spanish audiovisual group which, after winning the television rights to Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football for the period 2020-2024, was unable to honor its deadlines.
The sudden and premature shutdown of the channel after a few months of existence - in December 2020 - had plunged French football to the brink of bankruptcy.
The basketball situation does not yet seem so extreme but it worries many players.
According to our information, a crisis meeting was also held this Friday afternoon to try to find a solution and avoid chaos.
The smiles which accompanied the signing last June of a tripartite agreement between the National Basketball League, the L'Équipe channel and the digital platform Skweek for the broadcast of the French champion - for 7 years for 2.5 million € per season - seem a long way off…
Broadcaster of all Betclic Élite matches via its OTT platform, Skweek - in reference to the sound of shoes squeaking on the floor - indeed seems to be facing financial problems.
He has still not reimbursed the production costs of these matches, provided by 21 Production, a subsidiary of the L'Équipe group, since the start of the season.
Between broadcast rights and production costs, “the slate is monstrous,” assures someone close to the matter.
It would be of the order of two and three million euros.
“For the Basketball League the situation is worrying but it is not dramatic or lethal,” said Philippe Ausseur, president of the Basketball League this Friday.
The subject concerns Skweek and L'Équipe and the content of what L'Équipe produces on behalf of Skweek.
Unlike other sports, the (
financial
) balance of the League and our clubs does not depend on the TV contract but we regret if this has an impact on the visibility of our sport.
We will be as facilitative as possible.
»
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If the broadcast of the "premium" match on Sunday at 7 p.m. on the L'Équipe channel - whose average audience is estimated at around 300,000 viewers, with a peak at 500,000 viewers - does not seem to be called into question, the situation is more problematic for the rest of the meetings.
Some fear that a black screen will soon replace basketball courts for Skweek subscribers.
Very quickly…
“We do not want to stop the production of matches, our priority is to find a solution to continue to promote French sport and basketball,” confides a source within the L’Équipe group.
But we must understand that financially this is no longer tenable.
We have production costs for each match and it all adds up.
We are very annoyed… We are all working to find a solution.
» In the event of failure “the contract could be re-discussed and the rights could be put back on the market”, explains a source.
“We will have to find a new actor, put the work back into practice,” Philippe Ausseur does not hide.
Skweek belongs to FedCom Media, a branch of the multinational FedCom whose boss is named Aleksey Fedorychev.
Born in Russia, the businessman has a dual Hungarian and Monegasque passport and has lived on the “Rock” for 30 years.
A sports fan, he was for a long time the main sponsor of the AS Monaco football club (via FedCom) before becoming interested in basketball and making Monaco a French and European powerhouse (3rd in the Euroleague in 2023) .
This season, the club's budget is €27M, unheard of in France.
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Money therefore does not seem to be a problem for him… Except that part of his assets are blocked in a bank due to the conflict in Ukraine.
In recent months, Skweek (thanks to the power of FedCom) has become essential in French basketball - it owns the rights for the Women's League, 3x3 basketball - and European - broadcaster of the men's and women's Euroleague.
The media is also the main sponsor - and visible on the jersey - of the Asvel club for around 7 million euros per year and employer of Tony Parker - president of Asvel - via the weekly broadcast of the "TP show ".
A protean presence (without forgetting the link with Monaco) which makes us fear the worst for all these actors.
Asked, Skweek responded to us by press release at the end of the day this Friday.
“It is important to specify that there are two contracts linking Skweek to the L’Équipe group.
The first is the sublicensing contract, for which L'Équipe cedes the broadcasting rights for the entire French Championship to Skweek.
The second is a production contract in which Skweek entrusted the production and direction of the meetings to 21 Production, a subsidiary of L'Équipe.
TV rights were paid regularly.
»
Then, regarding production, “we are working with the L’Équipe group to regularize the situation as quickly as possible.
We continue to work closely with the LNB and the L'Équipe group to grow French basketball and its clubs.
» Even if the situation improves, it is very likely that it will leave traces between the different parties concerned.
“The bond of trust risks being damaged,” believes a person familiar with the matter.
Meetings are planned for the next few days to avoid the black screen and a fiasco.