BeIN Sports has started legal action against French broadcaster Canal Plus, seeking to enforce their sub-licensing contract for exclusive broadcasting rights to Ligue 1 matches, reports Le Monde. The Qatari media group was awarded one lot of Ligue 1 rights in the auction held in 2018 by football governing body LFP, covering two fixtures on each match day and including 28 of the 38 best Ligue 1 games in each season. Early last year, Canal Plus agreed to sub-license these rights in a deal reportedly worth EUR 332 million per year over the 2020-2024 period.
The dispute follows the decision by the LFP to award the lot of Ligue 1 broadcasting rights returned by Mediapro to Amazon Prime Video. This lot, which covers around 80 percent of Ligue 1 games, has been bought by Amazon for EUR 259 million per season. Mediapro had originally committed to pay over EUR 800,000 for the same rights in the 2018 auction, when strong competition pushed bids to a record high.
Canal Plus responded to the deal between Amazon and the LFP by announcing its decision to stop showing Ligue 1 games from the start of the next season, beginning in August. The broadcaster has since stopped payments to BeIN Sports in relation to their sub-licensing agreement. The Qatari media group has declined to comment on the situation and on whether, in turn, it intends to challenge its contract with the LFP.
