The LFP issued a new call for tenders after the withdrawal of Mediapro -
ALLILI MOURAD / SIPA
The soap opera TV rights of Ligue 1, season 2, episode 34. The Professional Football League (LFP) on Tuesday launched a new call for tenders for the lot put back into play after the withdrawal of Mediapro.
But Canal +, which would be well taken to win the stake, contests before the Paris Commercial Court this market consultation, deemed "anti-competitive" and "discriminatory" according to a source familiar with the case.
The situation results from an opposition between the League and Canal + in the legal analysis of this file.
The encrypted channel estimates that the TV rights of Ligue 1 must be put back into competition globally, via a call for tenders including the matches it currently broadcasts (20% of Ligue 1 for 330 million euros per year ) because the championship no longer has the same value.
But the LFP, for whom these 330 euros per year represent the main televisual windfall, thinks that it is not constrained, and has opened a "market consultation" to reallocate only the matches neglected by its broadcaster Mediapro, who negotiated its withdrawal from the market in December.
A busy schedule
In theory, offers are expected on Monday, February 1 in the morning, with the hope of being able to have one or more new broadcasters from February 5 for 80% of the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches, left vacant by the group. Sino-Spanish, unable this fall to honor the annual 800 million euros he had initially promised.
But the schedule risks being turned upside down: a hearing is indeed scheduled for February 19 at the Paris Commercial Court, two weeks after the outcome of this revised call for tenders, which could therefore be invalidated a posteriori ...
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