France: Ligue 1 rights open with €800m season bid
September 13, 2023
From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris
The French football Ligue 1 TV rights tender for the 2024-2029 period has been launched with an opening bid at €800 million per season for the domestic market. Bids will be open until October 16th.
After the Mediapro fiasco three years ago, French professional league LFP has opted for a simplified process with two live match lots instead of seven. Starting at €530 million, lot 1 includes the first two choices of each day, the fourth choice as well as the digital rights while lot 2 encompassing the third choice and specific matches for an opening bid at €270 million.
Presided by Vincent Labrune who is eying the €1 billion euros mark, LFP hopes to rise the 2020-2024 current contract that raises €624 million per season, 80 per cent of the matches for Prime, Canal+ (20 per cent) and Free for live matches extracts.
Besides regular players such as Amazon, Canal+ and beIN Sports, the new tender could attract newcomers such as streaming platforms Apple TV+ or DAZN.