February 12 – French professional football has been thrown a lifeline by broadcaster beIN SPORTS France who have done a deal with Canal+ for the domestic rights to Ligue 2 in France until the end of the season.
beIN SPORTS already held a package of rights to Ligue 2 but now becomes the exclusive broadcaster of all Ligue 2 domestically.
French football is still reeling from the loss of the Mediapro broadcast deal that would have seen the leagues receive €750 million a year and establish a football streaming service in the country. With Canal + having renegotiated its own deal with the LFP and having picked up remaining rights to the LFP’s matches, it then turned to beIN Sports with whom it has a distribution partnership and who it acquired Ligue 1 rights from when setting up that deal.
The deal will be a great relief to the LFP whose media returns had halved in value following the acrimonious exit of Mediapro. No value has been given for the beIN Sports acquisition.
In a statement beIN SPORTS said: “As a trusted and long-standing partner of French football – both domestically and internationally – beIN SPORTS is pleased to confirm we have reached an agreement with Canal+ to exclusively broadcast domestically in France all games of Ligue 2 for the remainder of the current 2020/21 season.
“These rights complement our existing premium live sports offering, including the EURO 2020 Championships this summer, the UEFA Champions League (from next season), LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, the Turkish Super Lig, the English FA Cup, Wimbledon and other major tennis tournaments, US sports including the NBA and the NFL, rugby, handball, swimming and many other sports.”
The LFP is to issue a new tender for rights starting season and beIN Sports has indicated that it is looking forward to being a player in the French domestic football broadcast landscape going forward.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1713964539labto1713964539ofdlr1713964539owedi1713964539sni@n1713964539osloh1713964539cin.l1713964539uap1713964539