The French football authorities have extended the timetable for bidding on the TV rights to first division football.The process, conducted by the Ligue de Football Professionnel, has been the subject of a series of court actions by the current rights holder Canal+. The new contract will run from the start of the 2008/09 season through until 2011/12.The Ligue has launched a second, previously unannounced bidding round, citing intense competition for the rights. It confirmed France Telecom’s Orange had tabled a bid for each of the available packages.Agence France-Presse has reported a total of nine bidders for the rights including Canal Plus and mobile sister company SFR, TF1, Bollore’s Direct 8 channel, and social networking website DailyMotion.
