Deprived of spectators and very shaken by the crisis due to Covid-19, the football world is preparing for a leap into the unknown. Mediapro, which won the rights to the French Ligue 1 championship two years ago from Canal +, is preparing to withdraw from the French market. The company, under judicial conciliation since October, has reached an agreement with the Professional Football League (LFP), which has yet to be approved by the Nanterre court. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, December 17 and the decision is expected by the 21.
Téléfoot, the pay channel devoted to Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and the Champions League, inaugurated in August by Mediapro, will not close immediately. According to our information, it will continue its activities until January 31 at the latest, until the LFP finds a new broadcaster. After weeks of sloshing, in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), in the still new studios of Téléfoot, where the French-speaking editorial staff rub shoulders with Spanish-speaking technicians, it is disillusionment.
Contacted by The world, several journalists refused to testify, others requested anonymity. A freelance writer talks about “A funny emotional lift”. “A beautiful poisoned gift” for all those who have joined a project full of promise. “Everything has been done” hard “”, laments another. Will the remunerations for November and December be paid ?, asks a precarious one. Some do not refrain from thinking about possible legal action, to obtain compensation.
Explosion for football clubs
The defection of Mediapro is a blast for football clubs. The Sino-Spanish group – which already owes 324 million euros to the LFP in respect of two payments not made in October and December, and which had signed a contract of 820 million euros per year to broadcast Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 over the period 2020-2024 – will pay the League only 100 million euros for any account balance. A disaster, while a new broadcaster is far from being found. Jean-Michel Aulas is already anticipating an air gap of “300 to 400 million euros. This will require a redefinition of the distribution grids to the clubs ”, indicates the president of Olympique Lyonnais (OL) to World. Enough to explode the fragile unity of French football. ” We cannot exclude that the biggest, like the PSG, among others, can take again the ownership and the distribution of their rights ”, continues the president.
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