After the difficult resolution of the crisis of the television rights of Ligue 1 football linked to Mediapro, the president of Olympique Lyonnais Jean-Michel Aulas has announced new episodes to this endless soap opera.
The Professional Football League (LFP) should, according to him, launch new discussions by mutual agreement for the rights 2021-2024.
It's the never-ending story that tears French football and TV apart.
Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Olympique Lyonnais and member of the Professional Football League (LFP), explains to AFP that the television rights series of football is about to resume.
Discussions "by mutual agreement" concerning the cycle of television rights 2021-2024 of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will be "relaunched" to lead as quickly as possible to an agreement between the LFP and TV broadcasters.
"The deadline is June," Jean-Michel Aulas told AFP.
>> Find the media newspapers every morning at 9:10 am on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here
There will therefore be no new partial call for tenders.
Yet this is what the LFP wanted to do, after the failure of Mediapro.
And that's what she could have done after her legal victory against Canal + last Thursday.
But Canal + appealed.
"The end consumer must be satisfied before the broadcasters"
The Mediapro group had secured most of the rights to Ligue 1 for 2020-2024, but could not honor its contract.
The Canal + channel has taken over for the remainder of the current season.
The Professional Football League (LFP) still has to find a broadcaster for the next three seasons, however.
"Let us not forget, the TV rights, it is the end consumer who must be satisfied even before the broadcasters", warns the president of the OL.
"It would be nice if before the July holidays everything was stopped."
TV rights, initially expected at 1.217 billion euros per year for L1 and L2, fell, for the 2020-2021 season, to around 683 million euros after the failure of Mediapro and the closure of its ephemeral Téléfoot channel. .