June 14 – Tech and e-commerce giant Amazon has won the broadcast rights for Ligue 1 for €330 million per season for the next three seasons, prompting Canal+ to withdraw from its deal with Ligue 1, leaving French club football on the brink of another broadcast-triggered financial crisis.
What should have been a landmark deal for French football turned sour quickly. The LFP awarded broadcast rights to Amazon allowing the US streaming service to broadcast eight games live per week, leaving Canal+ de facto with just crumbs. A long-time partner of French football, Canal+ also paid €330 million for its deal and said that it was not prepared to share the rights with Amazon.
“Canal+ will not, therefore, be broadcasting Ligue 1,” said the broadcaster in a statement.
The new Ligue 1 season will kick off in August and the exit of Canal+ will further test the finances of French clubs, already ravaged by the global health pandemic. The deal with Amazon handed the clubs a lifeline after the LFP’s contract with MediaPro, for which the Spanish agency paid €100 million in compensation, collapsed. Amazon’s money would have allowed to clubs to still bank €1.2 billion a season.
“After the failure of the choice of Mediapro in 2018, Canal+ regrets the decision of the Ligue de Football Professionnel to accept today the bid of Amazon to the detriment of that of its historical partners Canal+ and beIN Sports,” said Canal+.
The broadcaster had tried to prevent Amazon from obtaining the rights via legal argument, but failed. Amazon’s rights portfolio remains modest, but is growing. They show Champions League matches in Italy as well as matches Germany, as well as a small Premier League deal.
The new dispute, caused by Canal+’s unilateral termination, is expected to end up in the French courts.
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