France: "I am sure that we will broadcast Ligue 1 on Canal+ (after 2020)" (M. Saada, Canal+)

"We have renewed a number of rights in sport like the Premier League (2019-2022 cycle). I have always said that I am convinced that we will broadcast Ligue 1 on Canal+ (after 2020). Today to succeed in France, operators need to be distributed by Canal+, especially in football, because people who love football are subscribers to Canal+," said Maxime Saada, CEO of the Canal+ group, to France Info radio on 17/09/2019.

The Chinese-Spanish audiovisual group Mediapro and the Qatari pay-TV operator beIN Sports France have acquired the rights to broadcast the live matches of Ligue 1 over the 2020-2024 cycle, on 29/05/2018. A sub-license fee is included in each of the lots awarded (see details below).

"We understand that the only strategy that can work is a global strategy. Yesterday, we closed the acquisition of a company called M7, present in eight countries in Eastern Europe, in Central Europe, which has three million subscribers. So the Canal+ group has become a global group with 20 million subscribers, including 12 million outside France, and the agreement with Netflix has now been…