Paris (AFP)

With the postponement of most competitions, and in the absence of a Tour de France, televisions and radios were reduced to a quiet month of July before the resumption of hostilities in August.

The German, English, Italian and Spanish football championships have resumed for a few matches. But after a long period of hibernation linked to the coronavirus pandemic, sports fans still have few direct plans to get their teeth into it.

July is however supposed to be a highlight of the sports calendar, with notably football (Euro, Copa America), the Tour, Wimbledon and rugby (tours, Rugby Championship).

The most impacted group is France Télévisions, which was to offer its Roland-Garros / Tour de France / Tokyo Olympics summer series.

"Our summer is completely turned upside down (...) it was almost necessary to leave flat," explained Takis Candilis, director of the antenna and programs at France Televisions, in early June.

The group has planned "great cultural moments" around music, theater or literature, to also support festivals and artists hard hit by the Covid-19 crisis.

RMC was also to send journalists to Tokyo for the Olympic Games, originally scheduled for July 24 to August 9. Since everything is postponed for a year, she will use less freelancers. And offers two hours daily of "Tokyo as if you were there", interviews with French athletes who should have marked these Olympic days.

- "We touch wood" -

"This is not the sport we had planned, but there will be a lot of sport," says RMC sport Rodolphe Massé, the editor.

Despite the cancellation of the competitions, the radio retained most of its programming during the containment, including its flagship program, the "Super Moscato show". "We will quantify the drop in advertising after the fact," he said.

Since the L1 has not resumed, commentators feed on foreign football championships but also on Formula 1, whose 2020 season is due to open on July 5 in Austria. Just like Canal + which broadcasts the Grands Prix.

But from the end of July, football could resume its rights with the finals of the two cups (from France probably on the 24th then from the League on the 31st) on France Télévisions.

In August come back the Champions League and the Europa League: Rodolphe Massé counted "18 football evenings in 19 days, between August 5 and 23". The Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 championships are also expected on August 23 and 22 on the new Téléfoot channel, from the Mediapro group.

BeIN Sports and Canal + will also have to fight to retain football fans, when they will only broadcast two matches per Ligue 1 day.

BeIN has frustrated its subscribers by depriving them of the Italian takeover, due to a conflict with the championship organizers. The group plans to revive in late July with the European football championships, the recovery of the NBA and MLB, the American baseball league.

September will then be a month of cathodic worship for sports fans, with the Tour de France (August 29-September 20), followed by Roland-Garros (September 27-October 11). "We touch wood so that there is no second wave", blows Rodolphe Massé at RMC Sport. From an economic point of view, "the great sporting joys of the new school year attract advertisers", we are assured from France Télévisions.

© 2020 AFP