Canal+ has submitted a proposal to the French football league offering to distribute the LFP’s proposed football channel and securing the rights to the prime Sunday evening match.
The channel, created by the football league itself, is set to be the principal domestic rights holder for Ligue 1 football after a series of missteps that have seen the collapse of the Mediapro channel, the withdrawal of Amazon and the early exit of the previous rights holder DAZN, just 12 months into the latest five-year cycle.
Last year’s hastily arranged agreement with the British streamer and BeIN Sports made the Ligue €500 million – half the amount it was targeting.
Canal’s offer is to broadcast the Sunday match in return for a revenue share and a guaranteed minimum that is still to be defined by the LFP and its clubs. A second option, also under consideration, is for Canal+ to take a traditional distributor’s role, taking advantage of its subscriber base and commercial might.
The LFP channel emerged after the league was unable to reach an agreement for an alternative broadcaster. It is keen to work with Canal+ despite the frosty relations of recent years, when the LFP left behind its partner of three decades in pursuit of greater returns.
