Paris (AFP)
Legal victory for French football against Canal +: justice ruled Thursday in the Professional Football League on the mode of reallocation of TV rights after the failure of Mediapro, believing that the LFP was not forced to a call for tenders global.
According to a copy of the decision consulted by AFP, the Paris Commercial Court ruled that the LFP was within its rights by releasing on the market only the TV rights abandoned by the defaulting Sino-Spanish broadcaster, unlike the assumption of a global call for tenders desired by Canal +, supported by its partner beIN Sports.
This decision assures the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs, essential beneficiaries of this precious television windfall, that the famous "lot N.3" of the initial call for tenders of 2018, held by Canal + for EUR 332 million annually until in 2024, should not be put back on the market.
In a press release, Canal + indicated that it would appeal this decision and that it maintained a parallel summons, placed with the Competition Authority and which is to last several months.
"The Canal + Group continues to consider that any call for candidates which excludes lot 3, currently operated by the Canal + Group (under license with beIN Sports, Editor's note), would constitute an abuse of the LFP's dominant position by creating discriminatory transaction conditions between potential buyers ", explains the chain, which estimates the amount of this overvalued lot.
- No hindrance to competition -
Canal + and beIN Sports had refused to participate in the market consultation conducted by the LFP on February 1, which concerned the lots left vacant by Mediapro, or 80% of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.
Nevertheless, for justice, "the refusal of the LFP to integrate lot 3 in a call for general candidatures does not have the effect of distorting competition", explains the commercial court.
This decision confirms the LFP in its wish to negotiate the vacant rights "over the counter", ie directly with the broadcasters concerned for the next three seasons.
For the current season, which ends in the spring, Canal + and the LFP had reached an agreement on February 4, which granted the Vivendi group channel all of the remaining rights for the L1 season, for 35 million euros. euros in addition to what Canal already had to pay in the pre-existing contract.
The commercial court also noted in its judgment that Canal + had signed this agreement "by mutual agreement (...) without considering that this agreement would be a violation of competition law".
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. .
© 2021 AFP