Mediapro, which broadcasts Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, has asked to renegotiate the amount of TV rights, shaking all of French football.
Grégoire Margotton, star commentator of TF1 and Téléfoot, agreed that the situation of the broadcaster "is not easy", may assured that he did not believe in a "disengagement".
INTERVIEW
Mediapro makes French football tremble.
The Sino-Spanish group, the main broadcaster of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 since this summer, has announced its desire to renegotiate the amount of TV rights due to the coronavirus crisis, causing great concern among professional clubs.
Grégoire Margotton, star commentator of TF1 and the new Téléfoot channel, launched in August by Mediapro, spoke of this rebound on Friday morning in the
Culture media program
on Europe 1.
"I do not believe that there is disengagement in the words of Jaume Roures (the boss of the Sino-Spanish group) or of Mediapro. For the moment, it does not discuss, but it is perhaps the right one time to do it. It is not my role to give you an opinion on this, but I hope that they will discuss. It is important for French football ", judged Grégoire Margotton.
>> READ
- Ligue 1: the LFP refuses to grant a delay in payment of TV rights to Mediapro
"The clubs are in desperate need of the money"
Mediapro, which pays more than 800 million euros per year to broadcast a large majority of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches, intends to renegotiate downward the amount of these TV rights.
But the Professional Football League (LFP) refuses any negotiations for the moment, while professional clubs have lost hundreds of millions of euros due to the coronavirus.
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"The Covid has changed the economy of clubs that are indeed in desperate need of money, and the Covid has changed the spectacle offered to those who subscribe and pay a lot of money every month for different channels to watch football . That's what changed, "said Grégoire Margotton.
“I believe in other countries, between rights holders and broadcasters, there were arrangements, agreements in that different period. The end product doesn't look like it could have been outside of Covid. Maybe (Mediapro and the LFP) will be able to talk to each other. "