Canal+ loses two legal rounds

In 2021, Canal+ announced urbi et orbi its intention to stop broadcasting Ligue 1 – on the grounds that, after the failure of the Spanish Mediapro, the Professional Football League (LFP) had ceded two-thirds of the championship to low price at Amazon. A year later, the pay channel will have to be patient and continue to broadcast two weekly matches of the French football championship.

Thursday, March 31, the Vivendi subsidiary lost a major round before the Versailles Court of Appeal. She wanted to have the order of the commercial court issued on August 5, 2021 annulled, and therefore to suspend the sublicense contract signed, in 2020, with BeIN Sports. At the time, to stand up to Mediapro, Canal+, which no longer held broadcasting rights for the Ligue 1 championship, had bought the famous “lot 3” from the Qatari group, i.e. two matches per week, including that of Saturday evening. , for 332 million euros per year.

The case is not over

But Mediapro went bankrupt at the end of 2020. In the process, the LFP tried – in vain – to sign an agreement with Canal+. Then ended up partnering with Amazon. This provoked the desire of the Canal+ subsidiary to defect. Since then, the pay television group has been going through legal proceedings. The court of Versailles thus ruled that Canal+ had no valid reason to break its contract with BeIN Sports.

In addition to the decision of the Versailles Court of Appeal, the Vivendi subsidiary lost, on March 29, another procedure before the Paris court. Alongside BeIN Sports, she asked for the lapse of the broadcasting rights contract signed with the LFP. But she didn’t win. The case is not over: two other appeals issued after decisions of the Paris Commercial Court and the Competition Authority are still in progress.