Foot: the French League wants to end the TV contract with Mediapro
The president of the Professional Football League Vincent Labrune during the match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Marseille (OM) at the Parc des Princes in Paris on September 13, 2020. FRANCK FIFE AFP
Text by: AFP
3 min
The French Professional Football League (LFP) has decided to terminate the contract with its major broadcaster Mediapro after two months of conflict over television rights to the French Championship, Agence France Presse learned on December 11, 2020 from a source with access on file.
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Paris (AFP)
The Professional Football League (LFP) has decided to terminate the contract with its major broadcaster Mediapro after two months of conflict over television rights to the French Championship, we learned on Friday from a source with access to the file.
The output of the failing Sino-Spanish broadcaster has yet to be validated by the Nanterre Commercial Court, the same source said, indicating that the LFP should recover its broadcasting rights by December 21.
A board of directors of the LFP was held Friday morning to study the issue.
Contacted by AFP, Mediapro declined to comment.
The Sino-Spanish group, holder of 80% of the rights to the French Football Championships for a record sum of more than 800 million euros per year and a newcomer to the French market, had been in negotiations since October 19 with the LFP via a procedure with the commercial court of Nanterre.
Citing the health crisis that would have reduced the real value of the championship, he had indicated that he wanted to renegotiate the contract for this 2020-2021 season, initially asking for a discount while refusing to pay the contract due in October and December, by a amount of approximately 325 million euros in all.
In a conciliation that has accelerated in recent days through the intermediary of the legal representative Marc Sénéchal, the scenarios for exiting the crisis have gradually come down to a withdrawal of Mediapro, allowing the League to recover its rights televised for resale.
Eyes will now turn to Canal +, the historic broadcaster of the French Championship which remains discreet on the matter and has already indicated via his boss Maxime Saada that he would not reinvest "at a loss" in football.
This raises fears of a discount of several hundred million euros per year, compared to the historic contract negotiated during the call for tenders in 2018, in the amount of 1.217 billion euros for Ligue 1 and the League. 2, including over 800 million for Mediapro.
A sharp drop that may be difficult to cash for many clubs already weakened by the health crisis and empty stadiums.
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