Paris (AFP)
Jaume Roures, the boss of Mediapro, a former French football broadcaster whose failure has plunged French football into an unprecedented financial crisis, will be auditioned next Thursday by French parliamentarians, we learned from a source close to the Sino company -Spanish.
Mediapro had won the TV rights to French football for 1.2 billion euros, in 2018, but withdrew at the end of 2020, arguing difficulties related to the Covid crisis.
Mr. Roures will be questioned by members of the parliamentary information mission on TV rights to sporting events, created last May.
He actually "accepted" to respond to the invitation of the fact-finding mission, said a source close to Sino-Spanish society.
"The coming of Jaume Roures is an essential hearing, like that of other actors, to allow us to improve our understanding of the Mediapro crisis", explained to AFP the deputy Cédric Roussel (LREM), rapporteur of this mission .
After the departure of Mediapro, Canal Plus had recovered at a discounted price the TV rights left vacant, before the LFP chose Amazon after a call for tenders in June.
The American company has managed to recover 80% of the TV rights of L1 for 250 million euros, while Canal Plus must pay 332 million euros for the remaining 20%.
This choice triggered a legal guerrilla war lasting several weeks, without ultimately modifying the relationship between the two broadcasters.
Due to the failure of Mediapro, in three years, the TV rights of French football have fallen from 1.2 billion euros to less than 700 million euros, plunging many clubs into an extremely complicated financial situation.
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