Canal + is one of the broadcasters of Ligue 1 football (photo illustration).

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Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP

Canal + will not make a gift to the League for TV rights: the channel on Tuesday asked for a new call for tenders for all Ligue 1 matches, raising the threat of an even more drastic reduction in television revenues for clubs.

"Channel was not treated correctly"

Believing that "Ligue 1 has lost a lot of value" with the Covid-19 crisis and the withdrawal of the major broadcaster Mediapro negotiated in December, the boss of Canal + Maxime Saada announced in an interview with Le Figaro that the encrypted channel intended to restore to the Professional Football League (LFP) its share of matches (20% of L1), wishing to see all the matches put back on sale through a new call for tenders.

Maxime #Saada in Le Figaro: "We have not been treated properly in recent years" pic.twitter.com/hDp4XK5vUu

- Canape FC (@ CanapeFC2) January 12, 2021

"We finally came to the conclusion on the Canal + side that it was in the interest of all stakeholders to go through a call for tenders," Maxime Saada said on a daily basis, while according to several sources familiar with the matter, the League favored a reallocation via a mutual agreement agreement between the two parties.

Canal + has always insisted, since the 2018 call for tenders, that Ligue 1 had been overestimated by Mediapro.

In October, Maxime Saada had already indicated that the channel would refuse to "reinvest at a loss in football".

Tuesday, the leader also insisted to Le

Figaro

on the fact that Canal has "not been treated properly in recent years" by French football, between the call for tenders and the postponements of matches because of the demonstrations of " yellow vests ”for example.

No other broadcaster in the line?

For the Vivendi group chain, the call for tenders is a risk: by returning its lots, it runs the risk of leaving empty-handed of the future allocation.

But in the opinion of all observers, few other broadcasters (RMC Sport? Amazon? The DAZN platform?) Seem able to invest a lot of money in French football.

In addition, Canal + has an agreement with its former competitor beIN Sports, and several sources close to the negotiations questioned in recent days saw them act together on the matter.

For the LFP, which had not reacted in the evening Tuesday, the call for tenders suggests a drastic reduction in the TV rights of Ligue 1, because it brings into play not only all the lots of Mediapro (more than 800 M EUR), but also that of Canal + (330 M EUR for two matches per day) which could also be negotiated downwards.

Maxime Saada has also insisted on the fact that the price of Canal for this lot had also “artificially soared”.

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  • Soccer

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