Each day suffices its trouble, and each thing in its time: at the end of the press videoconference organized on the subject of Téléfoot, Tuesday July 28, at noon, it is by these two maxims that we wanted to summarize the Jaume Roures method. Sitting at a reasonable distance from Julien Bergeaud, Managing Director of Mediapro Sport France, in front of the laptop from which journalists’ questions sprang, the founding partner of the Spanish audiovisual group calmly imposed his tempo.
Yes to welcome the double agreement with Altice formalized on Monday July 27, which will allow Téléfoot to broadcast, in addition to most of the matches of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, the Champions League and the Europa League for the season 2020-2021, but also allow the new chain of football fans to access the portfolio of 770,000 subscribers of RMC Sport – the telecoms operator SFR having become the only distributor, to date, of Téléfoot in France. No to announce another alliance, with a distributor “Non-traditional” such as Facebook, Amazon or some other more unexpected player, because “We don’t talk about agreements before they are firmly signed”.
“Dream casting”
Not yet to detail the program schedule of the future Téléfoot channel, its flagship programs or the names of their hosts: “We have completed our recruitments, we have our dream casting, we will make a communication in the coming weeks to explain everything in detail”, said the two leaders. Finally, do not believe that because August 21, the date of the resumption of Ligue 1 and therefore the broadcast of its first match by Téléfoot – the programs will begin on August 17 -, is approaching, time is running out. “We have always explained that our goal was to reach 3.5 million subscribers, recalled, in French, the Spanish septuagenarian. This means that we will not have them either the first month or perhaps the first season “, but that, thanks to the merger with Altice, Mediapro can hope “A quiet development”. Especially since the Iberian audiovisual giant continues to hope to get along with Canal +, its leader acknowledged.
A quick arrangement with the encrypted channel would allow it to further increase the number of potential subscribers to Téléfoot, but also to lower the price of the subscription: set for the time being at 25.90 euros per month for a package of twelve months, it rises to 29.90 euros for those who commit on an ad hoc basis – a price presented as advantageous, when the addition of the same scattered offers would raise the bill for football fans to 64.90 euros, Julien calculated Bergeaud.
Share invoices
The need to resume discussions with Canal + will however become more crucial over the months: from the 2021-2022 season, and until 2024, it is the encrypted channel which, with BeIN Sports, will broadcast the Champions League. … But, between broadcasters, the competition, which has already violently opposed them, is tough. The broadcasting rights for 80% of Ligue 1 matches will cost Mediapro 780 million euros per year for four years, when the rights to the Champions League would have forced Canal + and BeIN Sports to pay to UEFA (Union des European football associations) 375 million euros per year. The profitability of these investments is far from assured, and the sharing of invoices, desirable.
It is to lower the note that is on its accounts that Altice, embarked on a layoff plan, has concluded an agreement to co-broadcast the Champions League and the Europa League for 2020-2021 with Mediapro: the two groups thus shared the bill of 350 million, in proportions which were not specified. And if Jaume Roures quietly assures that he does not want to precipitate events, he also knows that time is money. However, for the moment, the notoriety of Téléfoot still leaves much to be desired: at the beginning of July, indicates a Harris Interactive poll published by the firm NPA Conseil, 3 French out of 10 had never heard of the channel.
