The landscape of football on TV has been upset in recent days. BeIN Sports sold the broadcasting rights of the Ligue 1 for the period 2020-2024 to Canal +, considerably resetting the cards in the battle of sports channels. Pierre Maes, a specialist in the sports business, said Tuesday in the program Culture Media that this agreement seemed to mean that "beIN throws in the towel". The Qatari group was keen to respond and deny this analysis.
"It's exactly the opposite," David Sugden, director of corporate communications at beIN Media Group, the parent company of beIN Sports, told us yesterday. "We may have lost rights in the short term but that reaffirms our long-term commitment," he said.
"The best news possible" for beIN
In the eyes of David Sugden, this deal is the "best news possible" for beIN, for two reasons. The first is that these rights had been "largely overpaid" in May 2018 (330 million euros per season), in any case much more than beIN and Mediapro, the main acquirer, could have made profitable.
The other reason to rejoice, still according to this beIN Sports director, is that the 330 million that Canal + will pay to beIN Sports every year will allow the Qatari channel to bid on future calls for tenders. With this income from Canal +, beIN ensures to preserve its economic model while participating to weaken financially its new partner.