France's football governing body LFP has awarded the Ligue 1 broadcasting rights returned by Mediapro to Amazon Prime Video for the next three seasons, starting in August. This will be the first time that the country sees a streaming platform buy exclusive rights to the football tournament, in an agreement that covers around 80 percent of Ligue 1 games, as well as Ligue 2 matches. While financial terms have not been disclosed, sources close to the deal told the press that Amazon has agreed to pay in the region of EUR 250-275 million per year for the Ligue 1 rights, and an additional EUR 9 million covering Ligue 2 matches.
In France, Amazon Prime Video has already secured premium sports content, most recently airing the Roland-Garros tennis tournament. This latest agreement is a major win and builds on the sports deals secured in other European countries. The streaming service, which is present on the TV boxes of the main four French network operators, said that it will release details of its offering to football fans in the coming weeks.
In response to the decision, Canal Plus said that it would stop showing Ligue 1 games from August after the LFP rejected its bid for the rights. In a statement, the broadcaster did not specify how the black-out would be implemented, given its exclusive distribution and sub-licensing deal with BeIN Sports for one lot of Ligue 1 rights. This lot enables Canal Plus to offer football fans two fixtures on each match day, including 28 of the 38 best Ligue 1 games in each season. BeIN had reportedly committed to pay EUR 330 million for these rights in the auction held in 2018, when strong competition pushed bids to a record high.
The developments are the latest twists in a serious crisis for French football, which started last year following Mediapro's financial difficulties. The Ligue 1 governing body made a first attempt to sell the rights returned by Mediapro in February. However the reserve price was not met and the auction was terminated unsuccessfully.
At the time, Canal Plus and beIN Sports did not place bids, as they opposed the LFP's decision to award the rights returned by Mediapro without extending the sale process to all the lots auctioned in 2018. Since the failure of this sale, the LFP sold Canal Plus the Ligue 1 broadcasting rights for the 2020-2021 season. Meanwhile, the broadcaster lost a legal action against the LFP in March and made an unsuccessful complaint over the same case to the French competition authority.
