Paris (AFP)
After Canal +, BeIN in turn suspended the payment of TV rights for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 due to the interruption of competitions due to coronavirus, according to a letter to the Professional Football League consulted Wednesday by AFP.
"Our group has made the decision to suspend the next payments provided for in our agreement until the leagues 1 and 2 championships can resume according to a schedule allowing their normal distribution to our subscribers," said in this letter Yousef Al-Obaidly, the boss of the group.
The Qatari group was to honor a payment of 42 million euros on Sunday, April 5.
The group explained taking "mainly into consideration the total lack of real visibility on the actual resumption of matches in the current season, which has just been aggravated by the decision to maintain confinement for an additional fifteen days".
Yousef Al-Obaidly told the LFP that he was at his disposal "to discuss this context together" and the "protective measures put in place by the League for the continuation of the current championship and the resumption of the next season ".
Canal + launched the first offensive by informing the Professional Football League (LFP) that it would not honor the next payment of TV rights for the season.
"In the event of force majeure, when the matches are no longer delivered, payments are suspended. There, we are in the event of force majeure," the management of the encrypted channel told AFP on Monday. "We strictly apply the contract and we do not see why we would do otherwise: Canal + is not a bank."
A period of uncertainty is therefore opening up for French football and its funding, especially as another payment is expected for early June from Canal + and beIN.
The LFP had insisted for its part that Canal + had so far settled only two-thirds of the total amount of the contract while nearly three-quarters of the matches have already been delivered, a difference of 43 million euros .
© 2020 AFP