2023-09-25 16:17:37
In a letter sent to Vincent Labrune, president of the LFP, Maxime Saada, chairman of the board of directors of Canal+, explains why he has decided not to participate in the next call for tenders for Ligue 1 TV rights. Several elements have annoyed the channel encrypted and finally pushed her to the dead end.
It’s a missive that shook the small world of media and sports rights this Monday morning. On two pages of a letter sent by email and registered mail, Maxime Saada, chairman of the board of Canal+, addresses Vincent Labrune, president of the LFP, and explains to him why he decides not to participate in the call offers for Ligue 1 TV rights, the results of which are expected on October 17.
After recalling how much Canal loves football and even more French football, Saada talks regarding the subjects that are annoying within the encrypted channel. He recalls in particular the episode of 2021, still not digested by Canal, when Amazon recovered, following the failure of Médiapro, 80% of L1 matches for an amount (250 million euros) lower than what Canal+ pays for only 20% (332 million euros). This “mathematical aberration” is still not digested.
Saada continued by saying that he was ready, in principle, to study the possibility of participating in this new call for tenders. The limited number of prizes (only 2), the division of the matches, seemed to be suitable. But several elements annoyed Canal+ and finally pushed it to give up.
When Canal+ and DAZN come together during the summer of 2023, the LFP is wary and does not see this favorably because the fact that two suitors join forces would harm competition as the call for tenders approaches . At the time of the deal with DAZN, Canal asked the League for sublicensing authorization. Which she refuses in order to enforce contracts. Annoyed, Canal decided to get around this constraint by creating a digital channel (OTT), Canal+ Ligue 1, which DAZN might integrate into its platform.
Another point which caused the annoyance of the encrypted channel: the exit of Vincent Labrune in the columns of L’Equipe on June 6, where he mentions the absence of Canal+ in the future call for tenders “without even having consulted us “, specifies Saada in his letter. The unveiling of the call for tenders on Tuesday September 12 also greatly upset the managers of the encrypted channel and especially the expected price made public of the different lots. “When they discovered the amount of lot 1 (530 million euros), they fell off their chairs,” confides a source close to Canal. These figures, published transparently for the first time, are however fully assumed by the LFP, which hopes to get the most out of its product by displaying its ambition.
Don’t panic in the League
This letter did not surprise the leaders of the LFP, given the positioning of the encrypted channel for many months. Tuesday September 19, the judicial court once once more ruled in favor of the LFP in its conflict with Canal+/BeIn Sports regarding the exploitation of current lot 3 of TV rights. This 15th legal defeat out of 15 proceedings upset Canal management even if it expected it. And this was a small additional element which fueled the desire not to participate in this call for tenders.
“The conditions are not met today for the Canal group to submit an offer on October 16 and 17,” concludes Saada in his letter. The boss of Canal is convinced that the LFP has a secret agreement with Amazon, current holder of 80% of the rights via its Prime Video platform, which the League formally denies.
For its part, the LFP initially said it “refused to make any comments during the call for tenders procedure”. Before reacting with an offensive press release this Monday at the end of the day. “The LFP regrets the decision expressed by the Canal+ Group which it obviously never wanted, writes the body. (…) The assertions or insinuations contained in this letter are, moreover, particularly serious.” And added: “The LFP finally regrets the process of publicly disclosing the terms of this letter, in order to harm the marketing process as well as the interests of the LFP and the clubs that make it up.”
Internally at the League, however, we do not want to panic. “We know where we want to go,” we breathe. “We want a partner to advance French football and not drag it down as Canal+ seems to want to do.”
Bolloré: “Rugby league is everything I love. Football league is everything I hate.”
Because with this positioning, Canal+ is in effect sending a message to competitors to encourage them not to position themselves at these prices in this call for tenders and therefore to lower them. By making his letter public, Maxime Saada also wishes to prepare his subscribers for the idea that there might no longer be French football in a few months on his channels. This correspondence in any case fuels Canal+’s resentment towards the leaders of French football. “It is clear that our relations with the LFP have deteriorated significantly over the years,” Saada acknowledges in his letter to Labrune. According to our information, during a recent meeting with members of the management board, Vincent Bolloré – majority shareholder of Vivendi, owner of the Canal group – declared: “Rugby league is everything I love. The league football, that’s all I hate.”
Vincent Bolloré’s entourage also says they are “completely in line with Maxime’s letter”. But despite this aversion, it is not yet certain that Canal will not broadcast Ligue 1 during the 2024-2029 cycle. The partnership with DAZN might allow Canal+ to offer French football if the British platform wins a prize. Even if they do not wish to comment on Maxime Saada’s letter, the leaders of DAZN intend to position themselves in the two lots of Ligue 1.
Over-the-counter discussions still possible
And if the call for tenders was unsuccessful, a sequence of over-the-counter negotiations would then open. For Maxime Saada, this is even the objective of the LFP. “(…) By aiming for the failure (of this call for tenders, editor’s note) and thus freeing yourself from the legal constraint of a call for applications, (you will) be able to negotiate once once more directly and in perfectly opaque conditions the attribution of rights”, he wrote in his letter.
Despite the very tense relationship between the two parties, it is likely to imagine Canal+ participating in over-the-counter discussions even without having expressed itself during the call for tenders. “And then let’s remain careful, let’s not be surprised if at the last moment, Canal still comes to submit a file,” warns a regular at calls for tenders impatient for Monday October 16, the date of the submission of qualitative offers by the actors interested in the rights of French football.
Loïc Briley and Arthur Perrot
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